


My Prince Charming is a...Turtle?

by AlyKat



Series: Family Ties [1]
Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Video Game 2007), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Mikey falls in love, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, in 2007, part one of a series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-11
Updated: 2015-09-11
Packaged: 2018-04-20 04:44:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 50,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4774001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlyKat/pseuds/AlyKat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gwen didn't ask for much, all she asked was that someday her prince would come. What she got was something totally unexpected. Could it be that her Prince Charming is...a turtle? ::A MICHELANGELO LOVE STORY. Part of a series::</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. "Grow up!"

**Author's Note:**

> Back in 2007 I wrote very, very heavily in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fandom. I've decided it's time to start transplanting my fics over to AO3 from fanfiction.net. With that said, here in the first story in my TMNT: Family Ties series. I'm not going to backdate this one, but I will all the others. You'll be able to find the other stories through the series page. 
> 
> Also, uhm, don't get attached to Gwen's dog Howser. Just...just don't. Yes, dog dies. Just throwing that out there right now.

“Donnie, Donnie, Donnie, what’cha doin’ Donnie? Huh, huh, huh? What’cha doin’, Donnie? Wanna come see my new trick I’ve been workin’ on? I finally got it mastered and I wanna show ya!”

“Sorry Mikey…I’m kinda busy right now.”

“Aw c’mon Don!! You can spare five minutes, can’t’cha?”

”Sorry Mikey.”

“But Donnie! I wanna show ya it!”

”MIKEY! I said I was busy! Maybe later.” Donatello snapped, annoyed that his “younger” brother would not stop pestering him. Donnie had had himself locked up in his room for the past few days working on one of his many gadgets and gizmos when his brother Michelangelo, Mikey, came bounding in, skateboard in hand. The orange masked turtle would have nearly scared five years out of his brother—if he wasn’t already use to such interruptions. He had, however, become accustomed to any one of his brothers just barging in and making their presence known. Most times Donatello would stop what he was doing to listen to them, or would just nod and agree with them as they would rant and he’d be working, only half listening to them. This day though, he had already had six different interruptions—all from Michelangelo—and he had finally had enough of it.

Michelangelo’s shoulders slumped and his blue eyes darkened a shade in pain. Looking around his brother’s room silently, he sighed heavily and turned to leave. To him, it seemed as if everyone was getting annoyed with him. All he wanted was someone to hang out with him, like they use to when they were younger. He could remember all the times the four of them would go on adventures through the sewers, and he missed those days. Now, all they cared about were themselves and doing things that didn’t involved “little brother”. Every once in a great while Raphael would go hang out topside with him, but then he’d see Casey and leave Mikey to wander back to the lair by himself. Sometimes, in an even greater while, Donnie would emerge from his room long enough to play a few rounds of video games with him before retreating back into his room. Then there was Leo. Mikey didn’t even wanna begin to try and remember the last time Leo ever did anything fun with him. Hanging his head, he trudged from Donnie’s room in search of his other brother, Raphael.

“You’re always busy.” He muttered softly, heading out into the hallway of their sewer home. He spotted Raph sitting on the couch in their make-shift living room. Thinking his luck had improved, he stepped up to him just as Raph was getting up to leave.

“Hey Raph! Wanna come see that new trick I’ve been workin’ on? It’s totally awesome!”

“Love ta Mikey…but…I’m on my way out. I told Casey I’d meet ‘im an’ we’d go bash some heads in. Maybe latah, ok?” Sighing, Mike nodded and just stood there as Raph headed for the door.

“See ya bro-n-oh!” he called, closing the lair door behind him.

“Yeah…later…right.” Answered Mikey sadly. Feeling dejected, he headed to the dojo where he knew his final brother would be practicing. He wasn’t going to get his hopes up on Leo wanting to see the trick, not when he had more important things to be doing—like playing Splinter Jr. and acting like a “fearless leader”—but he was willing to take the chance. When he opened the door he saw exactly what he thought he would, well, maybe not exactly but close enough for him. Leo stood in the middle of the dojo, balancing on one foot with his eyes closed. He stood so still and silent that anyone who didn’t know any better would have thought he was a statue. He didn’t say a word or even shift slightly when the door opened and Mikey stepped in. Mike didn’t say anything to disturb his brother, he just stood there waiting, knowing soon enough Leo would say something to him first. After a few minutes, Leo finally spoke to him.

“Yes Mikey?”

“How’d ya know it was me?” That got a small smile from his older brother. If there was one thing Leo had learned from his meditations and lessons in leadership from their Master Splinter, it was how to tell which one of them was in the room without looking at them, using only their presence to go by.

“Magic.” He joked, eyes still closed. “What do you want?”

“Uh…I was wonderin’ if you wanted to come see my new skateboard trick I’ve been workin’ on. I’ve finally gotten it mastered and—“

“Mikey, I can’t…I still have two more hours of katas to do. Go see if Don’ll watch you.” Leo answered, slowly lowering his left leg, placing his foot firmly on the floor and raising the right. Bringing his arms in, he placed his hands together—palms flat—and let a slow, long breath out. Mike continued to watch his brother for a few more moments before narrowing his eyes and leaving the dojo. Walking through the living room, he stopped when he reached his bedroom. Opening the door part way, he reached in, grabbed his skateboard and walked out.

“Fine…no one’s gonna come watch? Everyone’s too busy to watch one stupid trick? I’ll go someplace where I’ll be appreciated.”

* * *

 

Guenevere sighed and closed her eyes for a moment before looking back at the man with a forced, but sweet, smile. She had been at work for almost eight hours now, and for nearly seven hours had absolutely nothing to do. She had spent most of the time watering the flowers, making arrangements for the coolers, and upgrading different plant baskets with pretty ribbons and bows. When she saw the gentleman approach the counter, she groaned inwardly but forced a bright smile at him. She knew he was going to be in a bad mood, he always was when he came up to the flower counter. What she hadn’t expected though was for the man to stand there and argue with her for close to twenty minutes over whether or not she was “hiding” the good roses in the back cooler. He was never that persistent. Taking a deep, calming breath, she tried once more.

“Mr. Henson…I can assure you…again…I am not hiding the ‘good’ roses in the back cooler, from you. What we have out on display is all that we have left! What you see is what we got.”

“You are a very rude and deceitful young lady. I want to talk to your manager!” For a little old man, the grey haired gentleman sure was obnoxious. Gwen wondered how much longer he could hold out before he finally angered himself into a heart-attack. Shaking that thought from her mind, she shook her head at him.

“My manager has gone home for the evening. If you’d like to lodge a complaint you’ll have to take it up with one of the store managers.” Grabbing a piece of paper and a pen, she quickly scribbled down the manager’s name, along with her own. Handing it to him, the man seemed to settle down some.

“You’ll be fired before the week is out.” He threatened before turning and storming off, well, as much as a motorized shopping cart can allow.

“I’m sure I will be, Mr. Henson…” She answered a small smile on her face. Taking a deep breath, she leaned over the counter to watch him leave. “See you next week, Mr. Henson!” A grumbled curse came back in reply, making the twenty-two year old floral clerk smile more. Hopping down, she glanced at the clock on the phone. 7:45pm, eight more minutes and she could go clock out. Pulling her shoulder length brown hair out of it’s ponytail, she shook her head some, loosening it as a shadow fell over the counter in front of her.

“I still think it’s just wrong that you’re always so happy to be at work.” A male voice said playfully. Guenevere laughed softly and smiled, looking up at her friend Carson. Gwen had only been working in the floral department at the Sampson Supermarket for a few months and hadn’t really made many friends there yet. However, Carson Pressman had at least made an attempt to talk to her from time to time as she would walk past the meat/seafood department on her way to collect her floral delivery every morning. He would always joke saying she was way to happy to be at work, to which she’d pipe back that she was happy she at least had work. Every once in a while, one or the other would go to talk to each other if they had nothing to do and Gwen was glad she had someone to talk to.

“I’m happy because in exactly eight minutes, this badge is going through the time clock and then I’m walking out the door. I’ve been here eight hours and have had nothing to do…all…eight…hours. It’s been the most boring day of my life.” She said, resting her head on her hand, leaning against the counter. Carson laughed and smiled as he leaned against the opposite side.

“Lucky. I’ve still got an hour left before I can leave.”

“I’m sorry, Carson. But hey, at least you have tomorrow off. I’ve gotta be here at eight am. Wanna trade?”

“Not on your life, Gwen. Take it easy.” Carson said, pushing himself up off the counter and heading back towards his own department. Gwen gave a small chuckle as she glanced at the clock. 7:52, close enough. Grabbing her memo book off the counter, she made sure things were cleaned up and hurried to the far back corner of the store where the employee break room was located. She smiled politely at the two older women sitting at a table gossiping before swiping her badge and tossing it haphazardly into her waiting locker. Grabbing her keys, she locked the small metal door and turned to leave.

It was a mild, early May evening and Gwen was glad that the sky was bright and clear. Stepping out into the warm air, she quickly untucked her red work shirt from her tan slacks. Pausing for a moment at the edge of the curb, she bent down and untied her shoes enough so that when she got home she could easily kick them off and go walking through the soft baby grass on her front lawn. She quickly crossed the near empty parking lot to her car and glanced up when she saw the most beautiful shooting star streak across the sky, a bright green tale flashing behind it. Breath caught in her throat, she watched it brighten the darkening sky before fading out just before it disappeared behind the horizon. Clamping her eyes shut, she made a wish; the same wish she’d been making since she was fifteen. Maybe this time, someone up there will listen to me for a change and give me a hand. She thought before unlocking her truck and getting in, heading home.

* * *

 

Raphael paced the living room like a caged animal waiting to be released and pounce its captors. He could feel his blood boiling and was reminded once more why he had been given a red bandana. He couldn’t-no-wouldn’t believe that his brother could honestly be so stupid as to go out and reveal himself to a bunch of strangers in the park. Granted he had done everything in powers to keep his true identity hidden, but Raph knew it was him. He had been out with Casey, patrolling the alleys and keeping the unsuspecting and ungrateful city at least a little safer when he heard the excitement at the skate park. Smirking and thinking of how much fun his brother would have a place like that, Raph led Casey over to the shadows near by and that’s when he saw him.

“Are you absolutely sure it was him, Raph? Maybe it was just some teenager being a show off? There are a lot of strange lookin’ teenagers in this city.” Donatello questioned from his seat on the couch with his older brother Leonardo, both of whom were finding strange amusement in watching Raph pace. Stopping in the middle of the room, Raphael turned a cold hard gaze at his so called ‘genius’ brother and scowled.

“I ain’t blind Donnie…I know it was him! He was wearin’ the clothes dat April and Casey bought him for his birthday last year so he could go topside to get things for his board. Da DC skater shoes, baggy blue jeans, bright orange oversized hoodie, shades…it was him.”

“Yeah but Raph, lots of people wear clothes like that. That’s why April and Casey got them for him.”

“Alright den Leo, how about this den…he did one of his stupid stunts and den shouted ‘Cowabunga’. Who, aside from Mikey, say’s cowabunga anymore, huh?” He had a point. Taking a deep breath, Leonardo crossed his arms over his chest plate and frowned as he thought for a few minutes. Donatello meanwhile, got up to go retrieve a soda from their fridge when the door to the lair opened and in walked a smiling Michelangelo, skateboard in hand. He was no longer wearing the clothes Raph had described, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t stashed them somewhere along the way. Sliding down the railing, he landed in front of his two older brothers and glanced over at Donnie in the kitchen.

“Hey bro’s! How’s it going?” He questioned like it was nothing and moved past them to put his skateboard away. Clenching his fists, Raph lunged at him and tackled him to the floor of the living room.

“I knew you were stupid Mikey but I nevah thought you were that stupid!!” He exclaimed through clenched teeth. Mikey looked up at him in surprise before shoving him up and off of him and standing up.

“Hey dude, time to switch to caffeine free.” This granted a snarled response from his hotheaded brother and almost a punch in the mouth if Leo hadn’t been his saving grace and stopped Raph’s hand before it could extend. Stepping between the two brothers, Leo crossed his arms and glared down at his ‘younger’ brother.

“Michelangelo, you know you aren’t supposed to go topside without permission, especially not to just go play. What were you thinking? You could have gotten into seriously trouble.” Mikey knitted his eye ridges together and shook his head, moving towards the fridge for something to eat.

“I dunno what you’re talkin’ about bro. I was out skatin’ the sewers. I’m not that stupid. You guys all need to lay off the caffeine, seriously, it’s messin’ with your eyes or something.”

“You’re such a little liar!! You were not skatin’ the sewers! I saw you! You were out bein’ a show off at the skate park. You’re the only one I know of who could give Tony Hawk a run for his money and that’s what you were doin’ out there.” Raph snapped, his anger building inside of him by the minute. How could Mikey stand there and lie right to their faces and Leo not do anything about it? So much for Mikey being an honorable ninja. Silently, Raph vowed that he was going to kill Mikey before his next birthday for lying right to them without even batting an eye.

“Heh…a run for his money? C’mon bro, seriously. I’d kick his tail.” Mikey laughed at the thought, taking a bite from his apple. He started off for his bedroom again when he was stopped, this time by all three brothers. The three other turtles looked at him with a look that, combined, could actually kill someone if they wanted. Sighing, he slumped his shoulders some and stared them down.

“Mikey you could have endangered not only yourself but also the rest of us. What if any of them had followed you?”

“Oh yeah, Leon…an evil clan of 12 year olds are gonna come an’ kill us all in our sleep.”

“Maybe not them, but how much ya wanna bet all those li’l kids went runnin’ home to tell mommy an’ daddy about the neat tricks the strange lookin’ guy at da skate park was doin’ an’ the next thin’ we know the towns folk are comin’ after us wit’ torches and pitchforks to do away wit’ da monsters before dey can eat their little children?!”

“Raph…dude…lay off the horror movies. Nobodies done that since VanHelsing.”

“They’re right Mikey. You know that the topsiders still think we’re the bad guys. What if you slipped up and let something slide? You could have given yourself away and we’d have no way of knowing where you were or if you were ok. That’s why you gotta stay in the sewers to skateboard. You always said ‘Why skate a half pipe, when you can skate a sewer pipe?’ So stay down here where the skating’s better anyways.” Donatello said, finally voicing an opinion on the whole thing. Raph glared at the all too lenient brother and stepped forward, pressing his nose close to Mikey’s. Brown eyes narrowed into cold slits, he glared at him for a moment.

“Forget that…I’m sick of riskin’ my shell ta keep you outta trouble little brother. We ain’t little kids anymore!! Hell, we ain’t even teenagers anymore! Why don’t ya start actin’ yer own age!?” Michelangelo took a few steps back and for the first time ever felt as if his brothers really did hate him, and that thought hurt him badly. Straightening his shoulders, he glared back at Raph and tossed the rest of his half-eaten apple into the garbage can. Pushing past the three of them, he placed his hand on his door and turned back to look at them.

“So what? Just cuz we’re not kids or teenagers anymore, that means I can’t still have fun? Where’s the fun in actin’ your own age then if ya can’t have fun anymore? Do katas for 5 hours a day? Spend most of the day and night out beating people up? Or…Or lock myself away in my room for days on end and not pay attention to any one or anything? What do you guys want from me? Cuz I just wanna have fun and spend time with my bro’s.”

“We want you to GROW UP!!” The three brothers exclaim. Those words stung Mikey worse than any beating from the Foot ever could. He felt truly betrayed by his brothers. For as long as they had been brothers he was always the laid back one, the one who always possessed the innocence of a child which sometimes annoyed –though mostly refreshed- his brothers with his crazy antics. Yet here they were telling him he needed to grow up? Growing up was overrated, and his brothers were prime proof of that. If growing up meant he couldn’t have fun anymore, then Mikey was all the more determined never to. Standing a little taller, Mikey turned and slammed his bedroom door causing the pictures to shake slightly.

Leonardo sighed heavily and unfolded his arms. Looking between his brothers, he turned and moved off towards the dojo. There was nothing more to say to Mikey, he knew how they felt, and they now knew how he felt about the matter. Having been followed by Raphael and Donatello, he turned to look at them. Donatello was always the more reasonable one in the family. He’d rather talk things out than start a fight over things; Leo liked that best about him. Raphael on the other hand, would rather punch first, ask questions later. Despite that, Leo did have to give him credit for always being the one to look after the others when he couldn’t, and would usually be the one who bore their problems for them. In their own rights, Leonardo supposed that, maybe they all had been pretty much grown up their whole lives and never knew it since it was so normal for them. Yet, what was it about growing up that scared their brother so much that he refused to do it? Frowning, he sighed and shook his head.

“Just leave him alone for the night. We all could use some rest. We’ll work things out in the morning.” Leo states before turning to go meditate before going to bed. Raph scoffs at that and leaves Donnie to stand in the dojo by himself. Sighing, Donnie glances out the door of the dojo and into the living room. Spying a picture of the four of them with Splinter from when they were younger, he felt a small twang of pain in his chest. The picture had been taken by April shortly after they had become friends. It showed Splinter sitting in his grungy old chair, like he does so often and though you couldn’t see it you could tell that he was smiling from the bright shine in his brown eyes. Sitting in front of him, looking like the biggest suck-up in the world, was Leonardo. Donnie had to chuckle softly, remembering how Raph always would call him “Splinter Jr.” To Splinter’s right in the photo was himself, giving a slightly shy smile with his hand resting on the armrest of the chair. To the left was Raph, looking all too annoyed but forcing a half smile anyways. He had one hand hanging down to the side but his right hand was reaching up to smack Mikey in the back of the head. Mikey was standing behind the chair, smiling brightly and innocently though both hands were extended to give Raphael and Donatello bunny ears. The bunny ears had appeared so suddenly that April didn’t have to time take her finger off the shutter button before the picture took. Smiling and shaking his head, Donnie turned and headed back to his bedroom, hoping to get some rest before they’d have to try and talk to their little brother again in the morning.


	2. "On My Own"

::Mikey’s POV::

 

            I knew the guys were fed up with me, and truthfully, I was sick of them too. It was bound to happen sooner or later though. I mean four brothers and their dad growing up in the sewers and really not having any place to get away from each other, it’s hard, especially for twenty-one years. It was just a matter of time before we started to get seriously sick of each other. I’m surprised though, really, that Leo and Raph are both still alive. I was sure one or both would have killed each other or something by now. Guess _they_ don’t hate each other anymore.

            Donnie use to be my bud, I could joke with him and everything was good. Now even that’s changed. I was hoping he’d back me up, defend me with some story like he had video of me boarding in the sewer from his surveillance cams or something. Instead, he stabbed me in the shell and took their sides. Those guys have changed, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s _not_ been for the better. Why was I the only one who saw that? I remember being younger and having all sorts of fun with each of them. I thought those days would never end; looks like I was wrong.

            Oh well, it doesn’t matter anymore, I’m gonna be outta their bandanas soon enough and they won’t have to worry about protecting their stupid baby brother anymore. I can take care of myself. Brothers, huh, who needs ‘em? Not me. Not anymore.

            I gave one last look around my room, making sure I had absolutely everything. Skateboard—check; comic books—check; CD’s—check; backpack of human clothes—check and double check since my other stuff was stashed out in a tunnel; my Teddy—uhh…not a check, he wasn’t absolutely necessary. Giving a small nod, I tucked my nunchakus into my belt and silently left my room. Before I closed my door though, I looked back in and felt a small twinge of pain. I was gonna miss that room, especially my loft bed. I worked hard to make that bed and it was my pride-n-joy, well—aside from my skateboard and pizza of course. I gave a heavy sigh as I made sure my note was in place and turned to leave again. Getting as far as the door though, I quickly turned and ran back for Teddy. Ok, so maybe he _is_ a necessity.

            Being a trained ninja comes in handy sometimes. Like when sneaking out in the middle of the night. It was the absolute middle of the night, so Raph and Leo were definitely asleep. And since Splinter went up to Casey’s Grandma’s old place to meditate and relax, I didn’t have to worry about him catching me. Part of me wanted to stop at Donnie’s room as I silently slipped by and saw the soft blue glow from his computer flood out from under the door, but I fought that back. After all, he sold me out, so forget him. I silently crept thru the living room, stopping long enough to glance at a picture on the wall. Quickly taking it and securing it in my belt, I whispered goodbye and took off through the sewers.

            I had been thinking of this all day, only thing I didn’t think of was _where_ I was going to go. I knew I couldn’t stay in New York, I’d be too easy to find. I had to go someplace far away, where they’d never find me. Maybe I’d go to Florida and work at Disney World. That’d be cool! What could I do though? Maybe they’d let me cook? I like to cook. Nah, no self-respecting business would let a _turtle_ cook. Then again, Disney was run by a giant talking mouse, how sanitary was _that_? I wonder how millions around the world could love a giant talking mouse but when it came to me and my family we were the freaks? I’d think about that later though, I was on a mission.

            Stopping short of one of our many exits, I reached into a small hole and tugged another backpack out. I quickly tugged on my jeans, sweatshirt, hat, shoes, and sunglasses—after tucking my bandana away first—and carefully climbed the ladder to the surface. I was glad I’d been stashing pizza money away for a rainy day, it gave me cash to catch a bus with. And since it was three in the morning, I was willing to bed the bus station was anything _but_ full. Keeping to the shadows, I made it there in near record time. I was right, almost empty. A grey haired dude with thick Drew Carey glasses sat behind a reinforced glass panel. I had to chuckle, it was too funny seeing him leaning back, a magazine on his chest, just snorin’ away. I tugged some money out of my pocket and counted it. Glancing quickly at the rate and fare table, I smirked. I had enough for a one way and pizza along the way. This was really looking good. All I had to do now was figure out where I was going. Donnie once taught me how to read a bus schedule, “Just in case,” he’d said. Now I was glad he had. The next bus was leaving in 15 minutes bound for Ohio. That was still too close to home, but maybe there was something else. If I could hide for 25 minutes, I could catch one heading to Illinois, with a connecting bus to Missouri. That sounded good.

            “Uhhh…excuse me, dude, I wanna buy a bus ticket?” I said, stepping up to the window. The old man jumped a little and sat up. Blinking a few times, he moved closer to the counter and his eyes were like magnified four times by his glasses. I felt like I was lookin’ at Donnie when he’s got his magnifying goggles on, it’s kinda creepy in that weird anime way. Lucky for me, even with his glasses though, this guy was still blind.

            “Y-yes sir, yes sir. W-where to?”

            “Uhhh…the 3:25 to Illinois?”

            “Alright. Round trip or one way?”

            “One way, please?” I was so excited I couldn’t hardly stand still, but that was nothing new for me. The dude rang up the price and after I handed over the money, he gave me my ticket and said goodnight. I looked down at the ticket in my hand. This was it. I was getting’ the shell outta Dodge! Pulling my jury-rigged iPod® from my pocket, I put my headphones on and, after securing my board and one backpack in the under carriage luggage compartment, I climbed aboard and went to sit in the far back corner. Yup, things were going great so far. I smiled and hit play on my playlist before settling in for my long ride to freedom.

 

“You were too busy to believe in

All the runaway dreams I was dreamin

It’s time to pack up and go I’m leavin

Fight after fight after fight

And now I gotta be

 

On my own

And living in a world alone

Gets better everyday

That I don’t have to say

I’m sorry I’m coming home

 

I’m gonna make it

On my own

I’ll always take the

Harder road

Gets better everyday

That I don’t have to say

I’m sorry I’m coming home.”


	3. Rain and Hitchhikers

::Gwen’s POV::

 

            Rain, rain, go away, come again some other day. It’d been raining for three days straight and I was starting to get sick of it. Sure, it hadn’t been like a downpour all day long, but still, I was tired of soggy streets and grey skies. I don’t mind it when it rains, it’s relaxing, soothing, it helps me think…just not three days straight, please?! That many days in a row of rain makes people cranky, and I _hate_ cranky people. I work at a supermarket in the floral department and not even the flowers can bring people out of their funks when the weather is like this.

            I was glad when eight PM rolled around and I could leave to go home. I’d had enough of cranky people to last me through the next two weeks and I just wanted to get home. I was looking forward to my five days of freedom as I walked to the back of the store and into the break room so I could clock out. Grabbing my coat and keys, I headed back through the store and out into the rainy night. At least it was just sprinkling instead of the hard, harsh bullets the clouds were spitting earlier. I had to say that I pitied anyone who was out in this weather right then. I knew that it must not have been fun.

            Starting my truck, I headed out of the parking lot and off towards home. I was sure Howser was probably dancing up a storm in the kitchen waiting for me to get home and let him out so he could go out and play in the puddles. Howser, or Howie for short, was one of my best friends. Ok so he was my dog too. A Rottwieler, Hound, and German Sheppard mix, he was nothing more than an over sized stuffed animal. If anyone were to break into my house while I wasn’t home, Howie would probably wet himself and then try to lick them to death. However, if someone were dumb enough to try that while I was home, well, let’s just say that’d be the last time they tried that.

            The two of us lived alone in my small, two bedroom house, buried deep back in the woods. “Far enough off the road that no one can hear you scream,” my best friend Angela would always joke. For as long as I could remember, 7789 Plowman Road had always been home to me. At one point the house had belonged to my parents, but for some crazy reason—just days before the accident actually—they went and had their will changed saying if anything happened to them before I turned 21 that I got the house. So lucky me, I’ve had my own house since I was 18, how many people do you know who can say that? I’d never had any brothers or sisters so living that far out was always hard and boring for me growing up. Now that I’m 22, it’s actually pretty nice though.

            About the only thing I still don’t like about it, is how far away from things it was. It was nearly a 15 minute drive to the nearest gas station, and at least a good 25 minutes to the nearest grocery store. Unfortunately, that grocery store wasn’t the one I worked at. My store was probably closer to 35 minutes away. And my best and pretty much only friend lived at least 45 minutes away (depending on the route taken and how fast I decide to drive. I’ve been known to make the trip in a half-hour flat some days).

            I had just turned the corner onto Plowman Road when my headlights flashed across a bright orange sweatshirt and soggy dark blue jeans walked along side the road. Not thinking much of it, I continued for a minute or two before stopping. The person had been carrying a couple of backpacks, a skateboard and, had that been a teddy bear I saw sticking out of on of the backpacks? I thought for a moment before shifting into reverse and heading back towards the person. They looked completely soaked and I swore they were limping pretty badly. Getting almost near them, I put the truck in park and rolled the window down to wait for them. Normally, I’m very paranoid about people walking along side the road, especially  this one—Plowman wasn’t exactly easy to find, at least not in the dark—but I figured, how harmful could they be with a skateboard and teddy bear? The person moved to the window cautiously, yeah, there was definitely a limp to their walk. When I saw how soaked they were, my heart instantly went out to them and I smiled sweetly.

            “Hi. You look like you could use a lift, hop in.” Their face was hidden by a shadow but I could tell by the way their shoulders lifted a little that they were more than happy to take me up on the offer. As they opened the door, I reached behind the passengers seat and moved my junk out of the way so they could put their belongings back there. Not paying much attention, I turned back to the front and kept an eye out for traffic, or an ambush if this person turned out to be a loser gang banger after all. As they got in and closed the door, I glanced at the backpack at their feet and smiled. A grungy, rain soaked, brown teddy bear head was sticking out of the opening. This person was harmless if they made sure their teddy bear could breathe instead of suffocating in a sealed backpack. Shifting back into drive, I started off back down the narrow country road.

            “Thanks for the ride. I was startin’ to think I’d never get a ride.” The person said. Their voice sounded male, but it also sounded sick, tired, and in a lot of pain. I’m such a sucker for tough-luck cases.

            “No problem. I normally don’t pick up hitchhikers but I figured a guy with a skateboard and teddy bear was probably not going to kill me. So, how far you heading?”

            “Nah, I won’t kill ya. I was brought up to protect, not kill. My brother Raph on the other hand, he’d prob’ly do it if ya got him mad enough, but not me. And I dunno how far I’m headin’. I was on a bus but, when it stopped the last time, I got off to switch and get somethin’ to eat and…um…I guess I missed my other bus.” There was something about his voice that I couldn’t quite place. It sounded almost, surfer like, but then again not. It certainly wasn’t a dialect from the Midwest though, that was for sure. He also sounded embarrassed and innocent, like a little kid really. I felt my cheeks burn slightly as I thought how cute he sounded.

            “Why didn’t you just buy another ticket?”

            “I uh…used the last of my money to buy um…a couple slices of pizza.” His voice became even more childish and I couldn’t help but smile more.

            “Well, my place is just a few miles from here, you can hang out there until it stops raining, or until you’re feeling better. I couldn’t help but notice you’re limping and you sound like you probably don’t feel all too well either. So maybe you better stay. We can toss your little buddy down there into the dryer and get him all cleaned up. I’m Gwen, by the way.” I heard a small chuckle as my passenger leaned down to pat the soggy stuffed animals head.

            "That’d be awesome! Thanks! Ted says thanks too. He hates bein’ all soggy an’ everything. My name’s Mikey.”


	4. Chapter 4

::Gwen’s POV::

           

            I drove Mikey back to my house, my wonderful, hidden place of dwelling, and shut off the truck. In the ten minutes it took me to finish our journey, I’d yet to see his face or hands. He made sure they kept hidden for some weird reason. And for another strange reason, crazy ideas kept popping into my mind. Maybe he _was_ a fugitive? An escapee from the mental hospital about an hour away? What if he had been horribly disfigured by some freak accident? Freak…what if he was an escapee from the circus? A side show attraction sick of that life and wanting out? A fugitive from the circus? Oh great, just what I needed. A fugitive from the circus. It’d be just my luck the rest of the circus folks would come looking for him in their little clown cars and an unimaginable amount of clowns would come pouring out and invade my house and…Gods I hate clowns! They’re so creepy! I always feel like they’re laughing _at_ me, not with me. Of course, then again, I never laughed with them; I ran the other way and hid. Was there such thing as clown police? Police dressed up as clowns who went around collecting reneged entertainers? I tried to shake that thought as I turned to face my mysterious passenger named Mikey.

            I could hear him trying to suppress a coughing fit and knew if I didn’t get him inside and warm fast, that cough was only going to get worse. Even with my heater turned on, he was shivering under the sopping wet clothes. It was only then that I got a somewhat good look at him—minus his face and hands of course. He didn’t seem all that tall; taller than me but then being 5’3” that wasn’t hard to beat. If I took a guess, I’d have to peg him somewhere around 5’5” or so. He also seemed to be on the lean side by the way his clothes hung on him. There was something strange about him though. The back of his shirt was touching the seat, but he didn’t look like he was sitting all the way back. Maybe he had another backpack on under his sweatshirt? That didn’t make sense though. I shrugged it off and opened the door to get out.

            “Well, this is it Mikey. C’mon.”

            Out of the corner of my eyes as I closed my door, I saw him tense slightly before opening his door, quickly gather his things and shut it again. I could hear Howie’s deep and drawn out bark, the one he uses when he hears a car pull up, followed by whimpers to be let out. Smiling, I unlocked the door and turned, expecting to see my guest limping towards me. Instead, I gave a startled gasp and bumped right into him.

            “Holy mother…I didn’t hear you come up the steps!”

            “The dog barking prob’ly covered it.” Mikey chuckled. Somehow, I wasn’t believing that for a minute.

            Frowning slightly, I slowly opened the door and led him in. I still wasn’t sure if I should trust him or not and decided to let Howser be the judge of it. If Howser didn’t like him and started acting funny, then injured or not, I was locking myself in the basement and calling the cops. Leaving Mikey standing in the entry way, I quickly unlocked the kitchen’s door and watched as Howie bolted for the front door, expecting it to be open so he could go play. Instead he found a stranger standing in the way. This was it, the moment of truth. Skidding to a halt, Howie sniffed the air and cautiously approached Mikey.

            I heard a faint growl escape his jaws and almost booked it down the stairs then. I waited though and watched. Mikey stood perfectly still, leaning heavily on his left leg, and seemed perfectly at ease as Howie sniffed and investigated him. Stopping in front of him, Howie looked up, tail wagging a mile a minute and tongue flapping excitedly. Mikey knelt down carefully and for the first time, I saw his hands as he reached out to pet him and ruffle his ears. A small gasp escaped my lips as I took a sharp in take of air. He had two huge fingers and a thumb, but what more, they were green! Now, I’m not talking the drab olive green tint some people have to their skin, I mean bright almost new grass green. He must have heard me gasp because in literally half a second he was standing straight up and tense as could be.

            “Don’t scream. Please don’t scream. I’m not gonna hurt ya, honest.” He said nervously. It was obvious he was just as scared of me screaming as I was of what I had just seen.

            “W-what are…what’s with…” I stammered. I wasn’t sure I wanted an answer to the questions I was unable to ask. He gave an audible gulp but before he could answer, his knees gave out and he crumbled to the floor. Wanting to turn and run while I had the chance, I was strangely drawn to him instead. Who knew how long he’d been limping or the last time he ate or slept. Howie stood whimpering as he gently nudged his new friends giant green, three fingered hand. He didn’t care if hadn’t been a human hand petting him, it was a hand and it moved that was all he cared about. I slowly moved Howie aside and rolled Mikey onto his side. The soaked bright orange hood finally fell away slightly and I couldn’t help but give another small cry. Howie licked my face before nudging him again. He was bald! And fully green! If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he had the same kind of face as the abandoned baby turtle I had befriended when I was younger. But it couldn’t be. Could it? Snapping back to reality, it didn’t matter _what_ he was, he was sick and hurt and now unconscious on my entry way floor.

            Very carefully, I tucked myself under him the best I could and slowly dragged him over to my couch. He weighed a ton, but it didn’t feel like it was weight from being overweight, this felt like toned weight, muscle. Nearly working up a sweat, I finally got him up onto the couch and laying down. Pressing my lips together in a suppressed smile, I removed his sunglasses and set them on the coffee table. Leaving him there for a minute, I ran off to the closet under the stairs and pulled out some blankets and a pillow. I wondered if I had any sweatpants that would fit him and after searching for a moment, decided that was a big N-O. Going back to his side, I carefully sat him up.

            “Time to find out what you are, Mystery Man.”

            I gently tugged his sweatshirt off him and gulped. He was! Beak, plastron, shell, and all! He was a giant walking, talking, turtle-man-thing. He acted like a human but he looked like a turtle. What was going on? Had I died? Was I dreaming? The feeling of my leg falling asleep as I knelt there staring at him told me neither was true. But how was it then that I had a turtle-man-thing unconscious on my couch? _‘Cause he passed out and you dragged him over here you dufus!_ Ok, so that explains  that but…how did he get to be what he was and why was he hitch hiking? Guess I’d just have to wait for him to wake up to find out the answers I wanted.

 

::Mikey’s POV::

 

            Whoa…I gotta tell ya, I dunno how long I was asleep, but once I woke up I felt a million times better and about two million times hungry. The last time I ate it had been early in the morning the day before Gwen found me. Gwen. Oh man, where was I? Did she call the cops on me? Did I get shipped off to some scientist? Leo and Splinter always warned about some—wait—I know that smell. I felt my eyes shoot wide open and I quickly sat up. PIZZA!! I sniffed the air a little more as I looked around the dark room. Spying the open box on the table in front of me, my mouth watered as I grabbed a slice. Sausage, pepperoni, bacon, Canadian bacon, onions, double cheese…this was a girl after my own heart.

            While I was feasting on this marvelously good cold pizza, I looked around at my surroundings. A good ninja does things like that after all. I was lying on a very comfortable couch-way comfier than ours back at the lair-and was wrapped up in a few layers of blankets. No wonder I felt like I was a baking baked potato! I tossed the blankets off and continued to look around. I was obviously in a living room since there was a TV across from me and two bookshelves covered in DVD’s and VHS’s. The room was dark, so my guess was it was still pre-dawn. All sorts of trinkets and keepsakes were scattered around the room and it was clear to me that she was the only one living here. No dude was _this_ clean. Not even Mr. High-and-mighty-Splinter-Junior was this clean. I felt myself start to get upset as I thought about my brothers. I wish I could have seen their reactions when they found me gone.

            Donnie prob’ly figured it out first. He was usually the one they sent in the first time I wouldn’t answer in the morning.

 

            ::Flash to Mikey-Vision Part 1::

            _“Come on, Mikey, ya gotta—Mikey? Oh my God! Leo! Mikey’s runaway! He’s not in his room. He left this note.” Donnie says tearfully. Leo takes note, reads it and sighs. Raph, overhearing commotion, takes note from Leo._

_“What? No! Mikey, why would you do this to us?!”_

_“What’d done is done, Raphael. Let us all go meditate about what we have done to ruin our lives so.”_

::Back to reality::

           

Heh heh heh heh heh…it served them right. They didn’t think I had it in me. Boy did I show them. Uh-oh…what if it wasn’t like that though? What if it—

           

            ::Flash to Mikey-Vision Part 2::

            _“Mike, c’mon, get your lazy shell outta bed. **Some** of us have been up for hours while you’re still…what the?” Donnie spots note, picks it up and smirks. Finishing reading it, gives a loud whoop of joy before running for Leo and Raph._

_“Guys! Guys! Mikey ranaway! He’s finally gone!”_

_“Are you serious? Yes! I got dibs on his Gameboy®!”_

_“I call his stereo!”_

_“Raph, Donnie, don’t be idiots. I already have both.” Raph and Donnie turn to see Leo holding those and Mikey’s Hawaiian lamp. Glancing at each other, they turn and tackle Leo for them._

_“Wait! Guys, guys, guys. Whose gonna get his bed?” All three turn to see April who appeared out of nowhere._

_“His dorky loft bed?”_

_“That dilapidated hunk-a-junk?”_

_“The cesspool?”_

_“Yeah, that.” They shrug._

_“Burn it!”_

_The four run to Mikey’s room and begin trashing it._

_“Let’s get rida all his stuff! So it’s like we nevah ‘ad a brothah named Mikey.”_

_“Yeah, he was a disgrace to the turtle DNA.”_

_“Let’s not forget a lousy ninja.”_

::Back to reality::

 

            I gulped and nearly choked on my last slice of pizza. Somehow that one seemed more likely than the first. Finishing my pizza, I gave a heavy sigh. I didn’t care if I never saw them again. And besides, I couldn’t go back even if I wanted to. Raph would pumble me, Leo would lecture me to death, and Donnie would prob’ly put a shock collar and tracking chip on me. Not-uh, nope, not gonna happen. And no matter what I did, even if I _did_ try to grow up, they’d still think of me as—and treat me like—stupid baby brother Mikey. That’s why I left.

            In a way it kinda hurt, knowin’ I’d never see them again, but then again it was really cool too! How was strikin’ out on my own for actin’ more grown up? And, the best part is…I’m doin’ something the other’s only _dream_ of (with the exception of Leo. I think the only thing _he_ dreams of is how to lecture us next and ways to piss off Raph). I’m alone with a good lookin’ babe who isn’t April. And so far, she hasn’t screamed and she hasn’t handed me over to mad scientists. Yup, this bein’ on my own is the greatest thing ever so far. The others dunno what they’re missing.

            Having polished off the rest of the ‘za pie, I got up to go in search of liquid. Gwen’s got a nice place, even if it wasn’t much more than like a two story apartment unit. The living room had a swinging door that led into the kitchen which wasn’t too big. It looked like it only had room for the bare essentials and not much more. No biggie, I’d seen smaller.

            Curious, I forgot my quest for a drink and started to investigate the place a little more. There was a locked door next to the steps, wonder what _that’s_ all about? A closet under the stairs that held all sorts of things and another door next to the locked one that was the bathroom. Nice…wonder what’s upstairs. I’d only put one foot on the stairs and looked up to see Gwen’s dog standing at the top. He didn’t look all too happy to have me starting up the stairs. ‘K…I can take a hint, must be his and Gwen’s territory, I could live with that. Raising my hands in surrender, I moved back to the couch. My ankle was killin’ me anyways. It wasn’t the blinding pain it was when Gwen gave me a lift, but it still hurt pretty bad.

            Layin’ down again, I covered myself back up. Yeah, this was definitely a comfy couch. I should have no trouble…fallin’…a…slee………


	5. "He's Gone!"

Leonardo opened his eyes slowly and sighed contently as he listened to the quiet rumble of the subway cars overhead. For as long as he could remember, the rumble of the subway above their sewer home had always been a source of calming hum and was his version of relaxation music. He lay in bed for a few moments, listening as the 5:45am train south-bound to the Boroughs rocketed through the tunnels. You could almost set your clock to that train; if you were awake that early everyday that is.  Even when they were youngsters, Leo was always first to rise. It wasn’t that he necessarily _wanted_ to wake up that early—in fact most days he wished he could sleep in as long as Mikey or Raph—but for some reason his internal alarm clock always woke him up before six in the morning. Raphael always thought it was because Leo wanted to be just like their Master Splinter; he never believed his brother whenever he’d try to dispute it, so Leo finally gave up disputing it.

            Lying there for a few minutes more, he finally shoved himself up off his bed and retied his royal blue bandana around his eyes before slipping his pads back on along with his belt. Walking out into the main section of their lair, he gave a small smile at knowing he could get some time alone in the dojo to practice before Donatello would wake from his hour or so “nap” and be ready to practice with him. Leonardo loved his brother, loved all his brothers (sometimes he wondered _why_ he loved a couple in particular, but loved them none the less) but he couldn’t understand how Donnie could function all day on just an hour or two of sleep. He could hear him, late at night, tinkering and clicking with and on computers or gadgets and it always amazed him that he never suffered from any sort of burn out from any of it. Of course, then again, when it came to electronics, Leo was one of the _last_ people you’d want to have try and help with them. Electronics and mechanics was Donnie’s forte. Sliding past his room, Leo moved down the hall to the dojo and began to practice his katas. As he was practicing, he began to think about his other two brothers.

            Raphael had always tried to be better than Leo, though for the life of him he never really understood why. Splinter always said he loved them all the same—though they all knew that he had a special soft spot sometimes for Mikey’s innocence—and so he never could figure out why Raph would always try to one up him. He gave an inward chuckle though as he thought about how many times Raph would try and fail at out doing him. He had to give his brother credit for trying, but sometimes he tried a little too hard. Raph had always been the hot-head of the family, never really feeling like he fit in and would emotionally blockade himself off from the rest of the family. Leo had always tried to make Raph feel included, but his brother would never let him get too close. Finally deciding that he did this because of fear, Leo began pushing Raph to his limits in a hope to eliminate the fear in him. Unfortunately, that plan backfired and it resulted in his younger brother resenting him even more. He knew that Raph would probably never let anyone get to close to him, except for Casey who seemed to understand him better than anyone they had ever met –not that they’d met many people—He finally gave up on reaching out to him and just retaliated whenever Raph would shoot off at him.

            Then there was Michelangelo, the five year old trapped in a twenty one year old turtle body. Mikey, with his big blue eyes, was and always had been the most human of any of them. Not to say that he _looked_ any different from the rest, but that he more than any of them, wanted to be like everyone else in the world. He hardly ever saw anything bad around him, which was one reason he was about the only one of the brothers to actually _enjoy_ pissing Raph off. To him, that was fun. They hardly ever saw him without a smile on his face, even during battles he’d be smiling and joking around. The world was a stage to him, and he was the star actor hamming it up for all to see. More than anything, Leo wished that they could give Mikey the world he so longed to live in. To let him be out and about among the humans, but they all knew better than that. Very few humans knew about them, and even fewer trusted them. April and Casey knew this also, which was why they had gone thru all the trouble they had to buy Mikey blue jeans, shoes, T-shirts/sweatshirts, and other human like clothing. He could remember the look on his youngest brothers face when he opened the box and saw the clothes, he was sure that Mikey was the only guy in the world who was actually excited to get _clothes_ for his birthday. It was pretty funny to think about. He also knew that Mikey sometimes wasn’t always thinking about repercussions when he acted and would usually end up doing something incredibly stupid. Going out into public just to skateboard and show off was one of those times. Sighing, Leo shook his head and went into what Mikey called his “Matrix Stance”; balancing on one foot, his other raised and his arms raised as if he were frozen in the middle of going into a kick, and stared at the wall ahead of him.

            Still in his stance, he heard the door open and his purple bandana clad brother yawn and stretch before moving towards the weapons wall. Donnie was going to try and sneak attack him. Silly Don. You’d think after twenty-one years of being brothers he’d learn by now that you can’t sneak attack Leonardo. It just doesn’t happen. Sneak attacks on Leo were about as rare as a genuine smile on Raphael. Still, keeping to his frozen stance, he continued to stare out in front of him blankly, listening as Donnie moved from one weapon to another. Passed the ninja stars, passed the sai’s, passed the nunchakus, passed the bow staffs…Leo couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Could it be that his brother was feeling gutsy enough to try and practice against him using katana’s? He must not have had a good night. _This could be fun_ , Leo thought as he allowed a very slight amused smile form on his lips. He listened intently as Donatello unsheathed a single sword and took one step closer to his statuesque brother. Waiting until the last possible second, Leo spun and blocked the katana between his hands.

            “Bad night, brother? Perhaps you should try to take it out on Raph instead of me.” He joshed, dodging out of the way and revealing his twin katanas along with a smile. Donnie took a deep breath before rushing him once more.

            “Well, I thought I might give it a try. I’m always up for trying new things and making a spring on you sure seemed new enough.” He answered, chuckling slightly. The two continued to spar for a little while longer before Raphael joined them. He couldn’t help but chuckle. Liking the odds he saw, he took his two sais from his belt and began to help Donatello in fighting their ‘older’ brother.

            “Nice of you to finally join us, Raph. Donnie and I were just talking about you. Seems he had a bad night and needs someone to take it out on. By all means, have fun.” Leo smirked, dodging out of battle to let the two spar between themselves. Raph gave a low chuckle as he dodged and stabbed at his second youngest brother.

            “What’s da mattah, Don-o? All da live chat goils busy last night? Or did da porn sites catch on ta da fact dat ya use fake credit card info to order t’ings wit and won’t let ya get nuttin’ anymoah?” Raph teased, knowing—or at least _thinking_ he knew—that Donnie always got flustered and embarrassed by those sites and would try to avoid them at all costs. Narrowing his eyes, Donatello connected with a swift right handed jab to the shell as he rolled past.

            “No, I thought that was _you_ they caught onto. But then again, maybe I’m mistaken. I mean, how many Raphael’s are there out there now?” He snipped back, causing Raph to laugh.

            “’Ey Leo…you were right. Donnie did have a bad night. Must notta been able to find a ‘special chat buddy’ last night. It’s ok d’oh Don…you can always try again tanight.”

            “Actually, I did. Her name was Clare. She sent me a picture. She was really pretty, you would have liked her. She asked for a picture from me…so I sent one of you. Hope that was ok. Even though, ya know, she stopped talking to me after that. I think maybe seeing your ugly mug scared her off.”

            “Ey! I wouldn’t be throwin’ stones at glass houses if I’se you, Donnie. She’da gone off screamin’ if she evah laid eyes on your goofy lookin’ head.”

            “That’s enough you two. Save the insults for later. Concentrate on the task at hand.” Leo called from the sidelines, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed watching as the two duked it out across the dojo.

            “ _Concentrate on the task at haaaaand._ ” They two mocked playfully. Rolling his eyes, he watched in more amusement as Donnie knocked Raph onto his shell and held the katana against his plastron.

            “Neeeeeeeext.” Donatello mused, tapping his brother in the side with his foot to note his triumph. It was then that the three noticed Michelangelo hadn’t joined them yet. Giving a disgruntled sigh, Raph moved for the door.

            “I got ‘im.” He muttered, heading for Mikey’s room. It was a little too quiet down his hallway and Raph was half expecting to have their brother try to jump out and scare him at any minute. It wouldn’t be the first time he tried that, and it probably wouldn’t be the last. Noticing that Mikey wasn’t hiding anywhere in the shadows though, a nervous lump formed in his stomach. Something wasn’t right. It was far to quiet in Mike’s room. Gulping, Raph balled his hand into a fist and knocked on the door.

            “Yo Mikey! Get yer shell outta bed, ya bum! Even _I’m_ up before ya!” He called. Waiting for a moment, the lump in his stomach began to grow wings and flutter around in nervousness. There was no answer, no sounds what-so-ever. Usually when anyone attempted to wake him, they were answered with a grumble and groan before a thud of feet hitting the floor in a drop. But there was nothing.

            “I ain’t kiddin’ Mikey! Get up before I come in dere wit’ a glass a cold watah and pour it on yer head.” He shouted, beating on the door some more. This time, the door creaked open and Raph couldn’t help but feel like he were trapped in some bad horror movie where the killer was always waiting inside the room when the door opens on its own. Hesitantly stepping in, he looked around. Everything _seemed_ the same, but he knew something wasn’t. Little things seemed to be missing, things that normally no one would even notice were there but knew the minute they were gone or out of place. There were no clothes scattered on the floor, no sneakers kicked against the wall. Raph’s first thought was that Mikey had been _extremely_ bored during the night and actually cleaned, but that thought was pushed away when he saw the empty place on Mikey’s bookshelf. His comic books were missing, along with the majority of his CD’s. His breathing becoming labored, he rushed in and looked around frantically.

            “Mikey? Yo Mike! Where ya hidin’ bro? C’mon Mikey, ya had yer fun now get out ‘ere so I can kick yer ass.” He threatened, checking under and around everything in his room.

            “What’s up, Raph? Where’s Mike?” Donnie asked from the door way, looking confused.

            “I dunno…check out dere would ya? Or check your cams, see if he’s out skateboardin’ or somet’ing.” Nodding, Donnie went running out to check the rest of the lair and then his surveillance cameras for any sign of their missing brother. With no luck, he returned to Michelangelo’s room to find Raph standing in the middle of the room, as pale as a turtle can get, holding onto a piece of paper.

            “R-Raph? What is it?” He asked slowly, almost afraid to hear the answer. Raph was never this quiet, and Donnie couldn’t remember the last time he saw him so pale. Turning towards him, Raphael held the sheet out to him before moving past him in almost a zombie like state.

            “We messed up big time…” was all he muttered as he headed for the dojo. Confused, Don looked down at the note. He had to laugh softly as he saw it was written in orange crayon, their brothers writing utensil of choice, but his laughing stopped once he started reading it.

            “ _Bro’s—_

_If you’re reading this, it means you found out I’m not here anymore. Sorry, dudes. I left though, and don’t bother lookin’ for me cuz you’ll never find me. I had to get out. You guys didn’t want me around anymore anyways so, I’m just doin’ us all a favor. So long, dudes. It’s been fun bein’ your brother. Guess now you’ll have to start callin’ Donnie ‘little brother’ huh? Heh…sorry Bro. Hope one of ya’s learns how to cook quick cuz I’m not gonna be around to do that anymore. Guess you’ll be livin’ off take-out for the rest of your lives. Anyways, take care bros. Maybe someday we’ll meet up again…if not, keep an’ eye on the news. If ya see me…um…well…I’d say come and get me outta what ever mess I managed to get myself into but…you’d probably just leave me there to fight it myself. No biggie though. Take care._

_Later dudes,_

_Michelangelo”_

            Donatello could feel his breathing become short and shallow. This couldn’t be possible. How could Mikey think those things? They never meant to belittle him and make him feel unwanted or uncared for. Where’d he come off thinking they would leave him to get out of his messes alone should he get into any? Gulping back a nervous gasp for air, he turned and headed to the dojo, carrying the note with him.

            When he reached the dojo, Raph was already in there beating the stuffing out of the practice dummy while Leo looked on in mild amusement with an arched brow. He was about to question his brothers sudden outburst when he saw the stricken face of Donatello. Etching his eyebrows together, he stepped forward.

            “What’s gotten into you two? Mikey taint your breakfasts?”  He questioned. Donnie blinked up at him though, shaking his head sadly.

            “Mikey ran away.” Leonardo couldn’t help but laugh at that as he took the note and read it over for himself. True, it said Mikey had left, but Leo felt certain that Mikey wouldn’t really leave. He remembered one other time when Mikey ‘ran away.’ In truth, he had just gone from one tunnel to another and hidden in a cubby hole until some one found him. Chuckling, he shook his head and handed the note back to Donnie.

            “C’mon Don, you’re smarter than that. You know as well as I do that Mikey wouldn’t run away and stay away. He’ll be back before dinner. Once he gets hungry, he’ll be back.”

            “I don’t t’ink so, Leo. A lotta his stuff is gone…includin’ his skateboard an’ that stupid teddy bear of his. I t’ink he meant it this time.” Raph said, a hint of concern and sadness in his voice as he stabbed the dummy in the chest with a sai before turning to look at their older brother and self-proclaimed leader. Raph could not believe that Leo was so level headed about this; like he didn’t even care that their brother was missing. For all they knew, Mikey had been kidnapped—er—turtlenapped after he left their sewer dwelling. He could be lying some where hurt, or worse…he gulped at the thought of innocent little Mikey out there all alone, suddenly forced to take care of himself without anyone to back him. That thought alone was enough to make him nearly sick to his stomach.

            “Raph…relax. You know as well as I do that Mikey can’t have gone far. Don, get on the phone and call April. He probably went and spent the night there or something. Raph, you and I will go look through the sewers. If he’s not at April’s or Casey’s, then he’s probably hiding out down here still.”

 

* * *

 

::Raph’s POV::

            I swear ta whadevah God happens ta be up dere. I am gonna wring dat guys scrawny li’l neck when I find him! Whad gives ‘im da right ta just take off like ‘e did? Huh? Of all da stupid, idiotic, pea-brained, half-witted idea’s in da woild, he ‘ad ta go an’ runaway. Oh yeah, dat was really provin’ ‘e was growin’ up an’ actin’ ‘is own age, _now_. An’ dey called me rebellious!? At least when I take off I don’ leave notes basically smackin’ my bruddah’s across da face! Ooooooo, Mikey’s a dead turtle when I find him. 

            An’ Leo!! Grrrrr…I could hit him too! T’inkin’ Mikey just went ta April’s or’s hidin’ in da sewer somewhere. C’mon…I ain’t dat stupid. I remember da last time Mikey took off…an’ da only t’ing he took wid him was he’s teddy bear an’ skateboard. Dis time he took damn near ev’ryt’ing. He left wid da plan of not comin’ back. Sometimes I really t’ink Leo’s skulls so t’ick it only lets ninja moves an’ Splinter’s voice seep t’rough.

            Dere had ta be some way of trackin’ ‘im down, right? Donnie could track a bee from Brooklyn ta Buffalo if he really wanted ta so how could it be so fuckin’ hard ta track down a 5ft5 turtle?! Dunno if ya noticed or not but, heh, we kinda stick out in a crowd. Couldn’ta gone far…yeah…right…an’ I’m da Queen a England…sure Leo…whaddevah ya say. Ya know what…fer yer sake Mike…I hope ya stay gone. Cuz if you evah show yer face ‘round ‘ere again…I’ll make sure ya nevah skateboard again.

 

* * *

 

::Donatello’s POV::

            I couldn’t hardly think straight as I ran for my room to begin searching through backlogs of video from my cams. I had just finished talking with April and Casey, neither one had seen Mikey…they said they’d keep an eye out for him though. My mind went into overdrive as I tried to think of ways that we could have avoided this. I guess I could have paid a little more attention to him. We always were buddy’s. Heh, I can remember being younger, we would get into so much trouble together. I’d be the distraction while he’d go and set up the pranks and then we’d just sit back and laugh as balloons full of water or paint would fall on our brothers, and the one misfire that landed smack dab in the middle of Master Splinter’s head. Good thing he was in a good mood that day and found it funny…other wise we would have had to have done 100 flips instead of fifty. Trust me, we got off easy that time.

            Still, it didn’t make sense to me. And I don’t like it when things don’t make sense. This was an anomaly; anomalies bug me. I had to figure it out. I had to figure out where he went first. I wish I could find a faster way of going through these videos. Our only hope is that Mikey didn’t figure out the lag sequence and sneak past each cam as it ‘wasn’t looking’ so to speak. If he figured that out, there’s no chance of finding him on the tapes. Our only _other_ chance is that he’s got his shell cell on and I can triangulate off it to find out where he’s at. And if that fails…then…well…let’s not think about that.

            Oh, Mike…I hope you’re ok, buddy.

* * *

 

::Leo’s POV::

            Splinter’s gonna kill us…

 


	6. "Explain Yourself!"

::Gwen’s POV::

 

I opened my eyes and stared blankly at my ceiling. It was part of my morning ritual. After convincing my body that I was indeed awake, I slowly and carefully climbed the ladder down off my loft bed. I learned when I first got that thing that unless I pushed my blankets away from the ladder, I would (being the Queen of all gracefulness) get tangled in them and wind up on my butt and in serious pain. Making it safely and painlessly to the floor, I shuffled to my dresser and put my glasses on. Normally I don’t wear those dorky looking things but I was feeling lazy and plus I needed to get another package of contacts. I heard Howie jump from his place on the futon beneath my bed and move for the stairs.

I was curious to see if my life sized turtle was awake yet or not. He’d been out of it for nearly three days, so I was hoping he was up and about. Other wise, I’d start to worry. I always feel like a zombie in the mornings, which is why I usually sleep in the T-shirt Angela gave me for my birthday one year, “Instant human! Just add Caffeine.” So dressed in that and my baggy baby blue basketball shorts (say _that_ five times fast) I moved from the stairs to the living room. Starting for the kitchen, I paused midstep. Something—or some _one_ —was missing from the couch. Wait a sec…so was the rest of my pizza! Howie knows better than to eat my pizza so then who—

“Hey babe! Hungry? I made pancakes.”

I spun around and—I’m sorry—screamed. The last thing I expected was for him to be standing in my kitchen holding a skillet of pancakes.

“Ahhh!”

“Whaaaa!” Mikey yelped back, the skillet falling from his hands. Well, Howie got a good breakfast. I jumped back and panted heavily as I stared at him. He was no longer dressed in any form of clothing aside from a brown belt around his middle, some elbow and knee pads and an orange bandana around his bright blue…eyes…wow his eyes were blue. And held such an innocence that I almost felt like a cradle robber just by having him there. I could tell that if this guy had been human, girls would have been falling all over him. And probably would have been voted “Best Eyes” in high school. In fact, had he have been human I probably would have—

“Aw man…well…good eatin’ duder. Don’t worry, I made more. C’mon, I’m starvin’.”

“Uh…ok. Howie, move it bud. Take that out into the living room.” I pushed past him and sat down at the table where Mikey had already placed a plate of nicely stacked pancakes. I was finding it hard to believe that Mikey could cook, at least cook well anyways, but the smell of the golden brown disks of goodness sitting in front of me was enough to make me a believer. I felt my stomach roar to life and heard the soft chuckles of my cook from the stove.

“Go ahead an’ dive in, girl. The ones on the bottom have chocolate chips. I was gonna put powdered sugar on top of ‘em but I couldn’t find any.”

“Oh, um, that’s because I don’t have any.” I answered blushing as I slowly cut into the short stack. The knife slide through them seamlessly and butter oozed from between each of them. Chocolate chips? Drenched in butter? All of the sudden I wished I had sprung for that bag of powdered sugar the other day when I’d gone shopping. One bite of those pancakes and I felt like I’d died and gone to heaven. I honestly haven’t had pancakes that good in—God—ten years probably. Not since my grandma died, she made the best damn pancakes ever. Actually, she was the best cook I’d ever known. And if Mikey was even  _half_ the cook she was, well, I’d be crazy to let him get away.

“See? Told ya they were good. Oh! Thanks for the pizza! That tasted great!” He exclaimed, sitting down across from me and tossing Howie another pancake. I felt my bite get caught in my throat and grabbed for my glass of milk.

“You ::cough, cough::, you ate the rest of my pizza?” I managed to choke out.  You’d think after all I’d seen so far that I wouldn’t be surprised, and honestly, I don’t know why I was. I guess a part of me still felt that this was a dream and that I was going to wake up at any point in time.

“Of course! I woke up hungry and it was there so I thought ya left it for me. Oops…was I not supposed to eat that? Sorry if you were savin’ it or something.”

“No! Um—I mean—it’s ok. It’s just, I went to bed it was there, I woke up it was gone and—you eat pizza?”

“C’mon,  _everybody_ eats pizza.”

“Yeah well, I’m just finding it hard to believe. I mean, the other day it was just me and Howser bouncin’ around the house and now I’ve got a giant talking, pizza eating, pancake making TURTLE sitting in the kitchen with me and….and I…well…explain yourself sir!! I want answers!” wow, ok, so yeah, that came out a little more frightened and desperate than I had meant for it to but, I had been good about not freaking out so far. A minor freak out never hurt anyone. I blinked a few times though when Mikey just started laughing at me. I guess I did sound pretty stupid.

“Gotta ask questions before you can get answers, dudette, but I think I get what you mean. What ya know is who and what I am and where I came from, right?”

Dumbfounded, all I could do was nod. He sure was a lot smarter than he looked. I had the very bad feeling that this was going to be a long story.

“Ok, my name’s Michelangelo, I’m a Leo, twenty-one years old and enjoy cooking, skateboardin’, video games, listening to music, watchin’ movies and TV and playing pranks on my brothers. Oh I’m also a mutated turtle from the sewers of New York. Anything else?”

“Uhhh…h-how did you get mutated?”

“I’ll give ya the short version of that story. Use to be normal little turtle, kid dropped us down sewer drain, landed in mutation goop, rest is history.”

“Ok…maybe we better start from the top.” I was past being confused so for the next hour and a half I asked questions and he supplied answers. I ended up learning a lot about him and his brothers and their dad—well kind of adopted dad really—who just so happened to be a rat named Splinter. Boy, and I thought  _my_ family had been strange. I suddenly felt normal compared to him. By-and-by, I also started feeling less and less weirded out by the fact he was a turtle, and more intrigued by him. Here I had a grown-up mutant  _ninja_ turtle on my hands! It’s a good thing I only really have one friend because no one else would believe me about him if I told them. In fact, I kind of doubted that Angela would either or that matter.

“Wow, so, there’s really more of you guys?”

“Uh-huh! I’ve got a picture, you wanna see?” I laughed at his eagerness and couldn’t stop myself from smiling. He was too damn cute for his own good.

“Sure, lemme see these guys. I want faces to go with names.”

He sprang up like a bouncy ball from the seat and went running/limping to his knapsack that was resting on the chair back in the living room. Boy was I glad that I tossed it there the other day when I did laundry. That reminded me. I moved to the dryer and picked a stack of clothes and a now clean brown bear up off it. Meeting him in the doorway, I smiled sheepishly.

“These are yours. I washed them for you.”

“Whoa…thanks! Ted! You’re brown!” he laughed, hugging the well loved stuffed animal tight to his chest. Still holding him, Mike held out a nicely framed family portrait. It was easy to pick him out. He was the only one with blue eyes, and he was giving two other turtles bunny-ears. I couldn’t help but laugh at that. Scanning the picture over carefully, I looked back up at him.

“Ok, so, which one’s which?”

“Well, the one in red is Raph, he’s the one with the temper and attitude. That one in front of Splinter with the blue is Leo, he’s the suck up and self-proclaimed leader. Then that one with purple’s Donnie, he’s the resident genius. Everything electronical in our lair was made by Mr. Gearhead Supreme.”

“Wow, sounds like you guys are quite a bunch.” I said, smiling as I moved to the living room. Mikey took the picture back from me and frowned as he followed.

“Yeah, we were.” I heard the pain in his voice and gave a small frown. I wondered what had happened to his family. He had mentioned that they were ninja’s fighting the evil of New York City, had they been killed? What if this evil had found a way to make them normal again and now Mikey was the only one left? Somehow neither theory seemed right to me. Especially not after seeing the way he was looking at the picture. The look in his eyes was somewhere between heartache and hate which told me things among the brothers had not ended on happy terms. I watched him as he put the picture back into his backpack and set his clothes on top of it.

“Penny for your thoughts?” I asked softly. He looked up at me in confusion which caused me to smile. Ya know, for a mutant turtle anyways, he was kinda cute when he was confused.

“Huh?”

“You looked like you were thinking about something so I thought I’d ask what it was you were thinking…if that made any sense.”

“Oh…nothing. I was just…aw nevermind. It’s not important. I mean, their loss is my gain, right? No one’s expected to live their whole life in the sewers with three brothers, right? I mean, they were bound to get sick of me eventually. I guess now was as good of time as any. The Foot hadn’t been attacking, we were all gettin’ antsy.”

I sat there silently for a moment in case he decided to elaborate on that anymore. When he didn’t I gave a small sigh and looked towards the window. It’d finally stopped raining and the sun was attempting to poke out through the still slightly threatening grey clouds. A part of me wanted to go out and play while I had the chance but another part wanted to just curl up on the chair and have nothing but an Adam Sandler movie marathon. I continued to sit staring out the window for a moment when Mikey finally spoke again.

“Mind if I turn on the TV? I’ve never really been one for awkward silences.” That hint of surfer accent and the quiet innocence in his voice brought a smile to my face as I turned to look at him again.

“Yeah, sure. Feel free. Mi casa ea su casa. I was actually thinking of having an Adam Sandler movie marathon.” Ya know, it probably would have started pouring the minute I walked out anyways.


	7. “Gwen? You’ve got a turtle in your tub.”

Gwen and Mikey sat in the living room, watching movies, drinking soda, and eating frozen pizzas all morning and well into the afternoon. Gwen enjoyed having someone to keep her company that wasn’t Howser. Not that she didn’t enjoy Howser’s company, because she did, he was a good guard dog and pillow—but he made for a lousy conversationalist. Now she had someone around that could actually talk and help to remind her there was civilization out there. It could get pretty lonely living in a house all by herself with no one but Howie around to make her feel loved and wanted. Of course, living in that house with her parents didn’t always use to make her feel loved or wanted either, so she supposed it didn’t matter much.

Michelangelo on the other hand loved having someone around who’d let him watch movies all day, pig out on junk food and sodas, and not once berate him for still being a kid at heart. He had hoped when he left that he would find someone like her, to prove to his brothers that not  _all_ of the top siders were out to do them harm. Gwen seemed to be the one he had been looking for…so far anyways. He knew it was still too early to tell, but something inside told him that he didn’t have to worry about her turning him in or going after his brothers or Splinter. Not that he’d care if she did, or so he thought. Still, he couldn’t help but wonder if he should stay there with her, or continue moving on. He’d debated just becoming a wondering skateboardist, but he knew his chances of being discovered as a freak were more likely than being discovered as a pro-boarder if he did.

The pair continued to watch movies until the sounds of gravel moving and the hum of an engine began to approach. Knitting her eyebrows together, Gwen climbed up the back of her chair and looked out the window closest to the drive way as Howie barked and pranced happily towards the approaching red Jeep. Eyes going wide, her jaw dropped as she looked at her watch.

“Oh no…I completely forgot!! Angela was coming up this weekend! Shoot!”

“Uh-oh!” She heard Mikey exclaim from behind her. Nodding, Gwen turned to look at him nervously only to stop. He’d disappeared. The only remnants of him were his things and the empty pizza plate on the couch.

“What am I…Mikey? Where’d you go?” She questioned, looking around in confusion. Had she really been dreaming and finally woken up? Or maybe he  _was_ a hitchhiking ghost and now he was gone. But then what about his things? Scrambling off the couch with no time to think of anymore questions, Gwen frantically tried to hide his bags under the couch and behind her chair when she heard the door start to open. Whimpering with the skateboard in her hands, her head shot between places that she could try to hide it before she finally just rolled it under the chair on the opposite side of the room.

“Oh Gwendy! I come baring pizza, pop, and sexy muddah truckah’s movies…what the hell?” Angela questioned from the doorway. Gwen smiled up at her innocently and rushed to take the boxes from her best friend. Blonde hair pulled back up into a tight ponytail, Angela Miller raised an eyebrow and look at Gwen in suspicion.

“Did I interrupt something? Gwen? Do you have a boy hiding under your couch?” She asked, kicking off her shoes and straightening her white T-shirt. Scoffing slightly, Gwen shook her head and set the still warm pizza boxes down on top of the already empty trays from their earlier pizzas.

“Angie…if I had a guy hiding under my couch, don’t you think maybe there’d be a car parked outside? Or maybe that I would have had my door locked?” Gwen questioned playfully, silently praying the Mikey wasn’t hiding under couch. She preyed for his sake he wasn’t. Angie had made it a practice, ever since high school, to come in and flop down flat on the couch on nights they’d hang out. That night was no different. Flopping down hard, Gwen grimaced slightly, expecting to hear“oomph” from under the furniture. When nothing happened, she sighed in relief and smiled at her best friend.

Angela had met Gwen their freshman year of high school. She had been new to the school and didn’t know anyone and Gwen, though she’d been attending that school most of her life, didn’t have many friends. Both girls being shy, Gwen chose to spend most of her lunch periods sitting in the far back corner of the lunch room, hidden away from the rest of her peers. She’d never forget the day they met.

_She had been sitting in her usual back corner seat, munching on her turkey and ham sandwich with Sour Cream and Onion Pringles, reading one of her many ghost story novels when a shadow fell over her. Frowning, she set her book down and looked up expecting to see one of the school idiots standing before her. Instead, she looked up into a rather exasperated pair of bright green eyes. Angela set her tray down across from her and huffed, holding her hand out boldly. Dressed in a pair of hip-hugger bleached jeans and a one size too small T-shirt, Angela looked far from the people Gwen would usually walk with._

_“Hi. I’m Angela Miller and I’m going to sit with you since you appear to be the only one around with an opening for friends. You gonna drink this?” She had asked, flopping down and grabbing Gwen’s bottle of Cream Soda. Opening her mouth to object, Gwen watched as she took a drink and set it back down only to reach over and grab some Pringles also._

_“So…I’ve decided. I’m new here…and you look like you could use a friend too so…congrats, I’m your new best friend. Want my corn? School corn is nasty.”_

Thinking back on it, Gwen always smiled and chuckled remembering how confused and slightly taken aback by Angela she had been. That strange meeting had been the cement founding of their friendship that grew more and more throughout the years. They’d been the only ones the other could really count on. They’d been through everything from crushes to bad break-ups to Gwen’s parents dying. People were always amazed at how strong a friendship the two shared; that they could remain friends even after Angela moved away for school and they couldn’t see each other everyday like they were used to. Angie had been studying to become a high school English teacher which always caused Gwen to laugh knowing that her best friend had been the only reason she’d ever passed any of their English classes. She knew though, that Angie was going to make an excellent teacher and was glad that she could continue her education to attain her dream.

Gwen had started college shortly after graduating high school, but due to financial difficulties was forced to drop out and bounce from job to job in hopes of making enough money to at least pay her dues and keep a roof over her head. She couldn’t help but think about how lucky Mikey’s family must be, living in the sewers and not having to worry about bill collectors coming to knock on their door ordering them to fork over money for past dues. Or that repo men would show up one morning to take everything they had to try and pay for everything they owed to people. Of course, then again, it also must be lonely for them, as Mikey had pointed out. No one knowing they were down there, no one even hardly knowing they were alive to begin with. Hearing Angela start jabbering on the couch quickly pulled Gwen out of her thoughts and back to reality.

“Man Gwen…have a bad week at work? There’s enough stuff here for at  _least_ four people. Did ya have a party and not tell me? Oh please don’t tell me you let that idiot back in just so he could trash the place! I swear Gwen, sometimes I think you’re utterly hopeless. Don’t forget…you dumped HIM! You don’t have to let him do shit…”

“No, no, don’t worry Ang…Jake hasn’t been by in almost four months. I think Howie bit the fear of Dog into him.” She chuckled referring to her ex-boyfriend of six month Jake Nelson. She and Jake had met one night as she had been wandering aimlessly around the nearby campus town. He’d been lost and was hoping she could help him find the buildings he was going to need for the following semester. He’d seemed nice enough when they met, funny and quiet, but with enough mischief in his eyes to let her know he could keep things interesting. Unfortunately, Gwen quickly discovered she was low on his list of priorities: Alcohol, gaming systems, politics, raising hell, her. Sick of being treated like scum, she finally told him to keep his liquor and video games, she was leaving. Shortly after their break up, he’d stopped by in a feeble attempt to fight with her about the break up. As things began to heat up, Howser sensed the danger his beloved master was in and broke through the kitchen’s screened back door. Chasing the no gooder back to his car, Howie was able to get one good bite to the backside in before Jake got away.

“Well good. I’m still waiting for the day where I pick up the paper and see the headline “Idiot smashed into train while drunk driving”…wouldn’t that make an awesome headline about him, Gwen? Anyways…what’s up with all this stuff, Gweny, seriously?” Angela questioned, glancing around at all the garbage and half eaten food.

“Nothing…I just…I haven’t cleaned up in a few days. Hey, what’s this I hear about hottie movies?” Gwen attempted to change the subject while collecting the garbage and moving for the kitchen while Angela stood and moved to the entertainment center.

“Yes indeed! I got Val Kilmer and Patrick Swayze movies for you; Chris O’Donnell and Shane West movies for me. Oh! Also this one…it’s got Kiefer Sutherland and Chris O’Donnell…figured that’d be enough to make both of us drool.” She answered, holding up the case to “The Three Musketeers.” Smiling, Gwen walked back out holding a bottle of Pepsi and handed it over.

“Sounds like a plan.” She said, silently wondering where Mikey could have run off to and how long he was going to be able to remain hidden. Sitting back down on her chair, she smiled over at Angela as though nothing had changed and watched as she placed the first of many movies into the DVD player.

“May the hottie festivities begin!”

About half way through the first movie, Angela stood and smiled at Gwen. Setting her soda and pizza down, she stretched her arms and back before starting for the bathroom. Gwen’s eyes went wide as she realized that’s the only place Mikey could have gone. Throughout the course of the movie so far, Gwen had been making excuses to get up and search the various rooms for her strange new house guest but had had no luck in finding him. Gulping, she knew that Angela would end up finding him for her.

“I’ll be back in a minute. Duty calls.” She joked. Gwen bit her lip and knitted her eyebrows together. She waited for the scream, for Angela to come running out yelling about a monster hiding in her bathroom. Silence. Confused, Gwen slowly started to believe that maybe he’d been able to sneak either upstairs or outside.

Closing the bathroom door and flipping on the light, Angela stifled a yawn and moved to the sink. Turning on the water to splash on her face, she caught what she thought to be an orange towel in the mirror. Curious, she turned to face the tub. The orange towel was suddenly gone. Raising an eyebrow, she slowly reached out and began to open the shower curtain. Pulling the vinyl blue curtain open all the way, she glanced down into the tub and then around the rest of the bathroom.

“Huh…crazy.” She muttered as she started to turn again. As she did though, a power within her made her look up and see Mikey clinging for dear life to the wall and shower rod. Giving a sheepish smile, he chuckled a little and gulped.

“Uh…heh heh…hi.” He said, giving a grin. Blinking a few times, Angela slowly backed to the door and opened it again. Eyes never leaving Mikey, she left the bathroom and turned to face Gwen looking completely confused.

“Um…Gwen? You’ve got a turtle in your tub.”  Gwen quickly turned to face Angela and scrambled to think of something to say. After a moment of blank thought, she finally just laughed and shook her head. Walking over to Angela, she placed her hand on her shoulder and sighed.

“Angie…I haven’t had a turtle in that tub since I was fifteen. Remember? I was giving Hermes a place to swim since the creek got polluted.”

“No, no…this wasn’t Hermes…unless Hermes somehow got polluted too and grew into a giant talking turtle hanging from your shower rod.” Gwen couldn’t help but laugh at how ironic it was that Angela would say something like that about her long lost pet turtle. Shaking her head, Gwen watched as Mikey silently snuck out of the bathroom and scooted out the front door.

“Alright Ang…let’s see this giant talking turtle you thought you saw.” She said, moving into the bathroom. Angela quickly went in before her and looked around once more. Looking up at the shower rod and ceiling, her face contorted into serious confusion. Spinning around, she began throwing open cabinet doors and searching behind the door. Stifling a laugh, Gwen pretended to cough and raised an eyebrow.

“Missing something?”

“He’s gone! He was right there I swear!! He had his left arm and leg pressed to the wall and his right arm and leg was hanging onto the shower rod! Gwen I swear! He had on an orange mask and a belt and he talked! He said hi!” Angela exclaimed her eyes wide as she continued to look around frantically. Biting down on her lip to keep from smiling, Gwen shook her head as she pretended to help Angela look.  _Poor Ang_ , she thought,  _She probably thinks she’s going nuts._

“Angela, honey, I’m not seeing anything. I don’t even know how you got orange to begin with…there’s nothing orange in this bathroom. It’s all blue and white.”

“Guenevere I am NOT crazy! I saw him!” Angela demanded, turning to face Gwen. Her face was set in determination and her arms were crossed over her chest. Gwen hated having to lie to her but, she knew that Angela would think  _she_ was crazy if she told her the truth. Secretly a part of her also wasn’t sure if she could trust such a large secret to remain safe with her. This was the biggest and strangest thing to ever happen to her and a part of her was afraid that it would leak out and someone would try to take Mikey away. And in the short amount of time they’d spent together so far, she’d already begun to think of him as one of her dearest friends; to think about what would happen to him should anyone else find out about him, it sickened her.

Frowning, Gwen wrapped her arms around Angela and sighed. “Ok, I believe you. Maybe I did have some giant talking turtle hiding in here, but maybe when you came to get me, they snuck out?”

Angela thought for a moment as she hugged Gwen. That was a possibility she supposed. However, she knew what she saw and heard for that matter, and it was a turtle with an orange mask. Maybe  _she_ was the one who was having a bad week and really had just imagined it. Giving a small laugh, she pulled back from Gwen and kissed her cheek.

“Ya know what? I think we just need to go back to our movies, get drunk off soda and hotties, and just pretend this never happened.” She laughed, smiling and moving back for the living room. Gwen gave a sigh of relief as her shoulders slumped slightly and she turned to follow her.

“I could deal with that.”

Mikey sat outside the living room window behind Gwen’s chair, listening to the sounds of the movie as they softly drifted through the glass. That had been a seriously close call back there in the bathroom, and as silly as it sounded, his heart was still racing just at the thought of it. The first rule of being a ninja was that of invisibility, and there he was cornered in the bathroom by a stranger. Even though the stranger was Gwen’s best friend, he was still scared of how she would have and could have reacted. Lucky for him, Gwen was able to distract her long enough for him to sneak out, and hopefully she had been able to convince her that she had been seeing things.

_At least it’s not raining anymore._ He thought as he rested his head against the siding of the house. Looking skyward, his jaw dropped in awe and his eyes went wide. He’d never seen so many twinkling stars before. The clouds had managed to break for awhile and revealed to him thousands of bright little stars blinking down on him. In New York he was lucky if he was able to see maybe even a quarter of the stars he was looking at then. The lights from the city managed to drown out most of the stars and usually only a few of the more powerful ones were able to be seen from the rooftops he’d stop on while out on patrols. Watching the sky in admiration, he slowly began to pick out the ones he’d always seen back home. A sudden twinge of homesickness settled in his stomach and Mikey gulped a little as he thought about what his brothers were doing. He wondered if they had gone out looking for him after he left or if they’d thrown a party instead. Shaking his head, he sighed and looked back down at his hands.

“They don’t miss me. They never even remembered I was there to begin with.” He muttered softly to himself, gulping back to tears that had begun to sting at his blue eyes. Sniffling a little, he sighed and wiped at his beak with the back of his hand. Mikey tried his best to keep from crying as he pulled his knees up to his plastron and wrapped his arms around them. Resting his head on his knees, he stared off into the dark woods.

He wasn’t sure how long he’d been staring off when he heard it, all he knew was that both girls were still inside and Howie was now lying next to him. Quickly flattening himself down onto the dark ground, he watched silently as a dark figure moved their way to the edge of the woods and stared at the window. Howie had also heard the dark visitor. Though instead of staying down, the dog was quickly on his feet and growling off in the figures direction, the fur on his back bristling. Mikey tried to quiet the guard dog as he began to crawl off towards the side of the house were he would be better hidden. He’d just made it to the corner when he saw the figure raise something to their face.  _A camera?_ He thought in confusion as the visitor began to take pictures. Mikey was about to get up and pounce on them when they quickly turned and ran back into the woods.

“Howser!? Howie? What’cha barkin’ at boy?” Gwen called from the front door. Mike’s first instinct was to tackle her to the floor and close the door in case the stranger returned, but he knew he couldn’t do that with Angela still there. Instead, he remained in the shadows to stand guard and protect the two. Howie continued to growl for a moment before heading off towards the door and his master. Glancing back at Mikey as if to say he’d protect from the inside if he protected outside, the dog bounded up the steps and into the house again. Alone in the dark once again, Mike began to keep a watchful eye on the woods, determined that if the stranger should return to take more photo’s that he’d be there to take him out.

 


	8. Weekend's Over

::Mikey’s POV::

           

I woke up to the sounds of Gwen moving around through the house. She was trying to be quiet but, when she tripped over Howie and made him whine, it kinda shook me outta my dream and back to the couch. And I was right in the middle of a good dream too. The world had finally accepted us and I got to be a professional skateboarder and pizza maker! It was awesome! Too bad it was just a dream though. Yawning and stretching out, I sat up and rubbed my eyes before putting my bandana back on. I dunno why I still wear it since my bro’s aren’t around to confuse anyone, guess it’s just sort of a habit. I glanced over at the clock above the TV and my eyes went wide. It was only 6:30am, what was Gwen doin’ up?

Getting up, I moved into the kitchen and saw her sitting at the table in tan pants and a red shirt drinking a cup of coffee. She had her glasses sitting in front of her and her hair up in a ponytail again. I kinda frowned at that. I dunno why but, she just didn’t look right with it pulled back like that. I don’t think she noticed me walk in since she didn’t greet me. Which was cool, I was ok with that; I hadn’t exactly made any noise to disturb her with anyways. Howie was sitting at the back door whimpering and pawing at it when Gwen finally realized I was there. Heh, I guess seeing a giant turtle standing in your kitchen at 6:30 in the morning is kind of an unnerving thing cuz she gasped and jumped a little when she saw me.

“Mornin’ Mike…I didn’t wake you, did I?”

“Nah, I’m use to wakin’ up early. I’ll let him out.” Ok, so it was a little white lie, they never killed anyone! I walked over to Howie and opened the door. It was funny to watch him go running out and just nose dive into the grass and start rolling around. Man it must be good to be a dog. I closed the back door and moved over to the fridge. When Angela left yesterday Gwen gave me the grand tour of the place and showed me where the most important things were: the food, the tunes, and the games. I still hadn’t told her yet about the stranger that had been snoopin’ around the other night, I guess cuz I wanted to try an’ catch ‘em doin’ it again sometime and question them. That and I didn’t wanna worry her. Once I got my breakfast, I sat down across from her and smiled.

“So, why you up so early?”

“Huh? Oh…I’ve gotta work today. Wonderful 7:30 to 3:30, woo, I’m excited.” She sure didn’t sound excited, but then again, I wouldn’t either if I had to work on a day like this one was starting out as. It was bright and sunny out, the perfect kind of day to go out boarding or something.

“So, the house is yours and Howie’s for the day. Just, promise me when I get home at four I’m still gonna have a home to see.”

“You will, don’t worry. So, does that mean I can use your computer and X-Box while you’re gone?” I was in serious need of some gaming. It’d been pretty much a week since the last time I played any sort of video game and I was starting to go through some wicked withdrawals. Gwen laughed as she got up and washed her cup out at the sink. I hoped that was a good sign.

“Knock your shell off, buddy. Remember where the games are?” I nodded. Of course I remembered! They were one of the three most important things! How could anyone forget something like that? I watched Gwen as she moved through the kitchen, tossing things into a little brown bag on the counter. Musta been her lunch.

“Ok…well then, have fun. If you need anything, the store’s number is on the fridge, just tell ‘em to connect you with the Floral Department. I’m the only one working over there today until 3:30 so, I should pick up. Uhhh…I guess that’s it. Oh, if Howie starts bugging you and won’t leave you alone, he’s hungry and his food’s in that blue box over there. Two scoops and he’ll be good till I get home.” 

“No prob, babe. Have fun at work.” I probably shouldn’t have but, heh, I laughed when I finished saying that. It just seemed funny to me. Course, the look on Gwen’s face wasn’t too amused but, I knew deep down she was laughing too. Giving a smile, I waved as she walked out the door and left. It must suck waking up so early just to leave home. When I left, I hadn’t gone to bed at all…I just sat up the whole night waiting. Oh well, whatever. I finished off my cereal and orange juice and looked around the empty house. It was too quiet…and I hate quiet. Smirking to myself, I moved over to her stereo and turned it on before shuffling through her CD collection.

“Backstreet Boys? Yuck! N*Sync? More like N*Suck! Soundtrack, soundtrack, soundtrack…geez, got enough soundtracks? Hmmm…Rob Thomas, not bad, I’ll put you on the maybe pile.” I continued to peruse through her CD’s before picking out my five favorites: Smash Mouth, Hedley (I gave a whoop of joy when I saw that one!), The Fray, The Beach Boys, and Jimmy Buffet. She seriously has one of the widest selections of CD’s and DVD’s I’d ever seen! Everything from Garth Brooks to Green Day as far as music went and then…well…a lot of movies, I hadn’t gotten around to checking all of those out yet. Hitting shuffle, I turned the volume knob until it went no further, turned on the X-Box, and settled down for a long day of video gaming.

 

* * *

 

 

::Gwen’s POV::

When I got to work I was all but pleased to see a cart full of boxes sitting at my counter. Couldn’t a girl get  _one_ morning where she didn’t have to do jack at work? That’s really all I asked for. Sighing, I walked to the back to swipe my badge before tucking in my shirt, plastering on a fake smile, and heading back to my isolated little flower world. As I walked, my mind kept drifting back to Mikey and how close we’d been to him being discovered by Angela.

I felt horrible about making him sleep outside that night when Angie stayed over, but I had completely forgotten she was going to stay the night. He said he’d been fine, but still, it nagged at my mind. I still wasn’t sure what had caused Howser to carry on the way he did, all I knew was that when I went to get him Mikey was no where in sight. Maybe a deer or a coyote scent caught his nose and made him bark, but then that didn’t explain Mikey not being around. Of course, it was possible that he was trying to stay out of the open in case Angie went out to her car for something and saw him. Yeah, that would explain that. I’d spent the majority of the night convincing Angie that she hadn’t seen a turtle in my bathroom and that there wasn’t a monster hiding anywhere in my house. Chuckling to myself, I thought about how silly it was that a twenty-one-year-old was still scared of there being monsters in the dark and creepy crawlers hiding under the bed. And I thought I had phobias.

Once Angie left yesterday though, I managed to find Mike hiding out in the garage. He’d fallen asleep on a stack of old newspapers which made me laugh. It was very stereotypical to see a New Yorker sleeping on newspapers. I knew I shouldn’t think that way; I’d just been corrupted by Hollywood too much though. Not everyone in New York was homeless…and not all homeless people slept on newspapers. I got him to wake up finally though and brought him back into the house and treated him to a nice bowl of Corn Flakes. Hey, it was the only thing I had! He didn’t seem to mind it though. After we finished eating, I toured him around and showed him where certain things were and stuff. He seemed most interested in my computer and X-Box though. He told me about how he’d have to sneak onto Donatello’s computer in order to play “War Craft” and how he’d have to practically beg their friend Casey to let him play on his Playstation. I wished I could tell him I knew how that felt, but in all honesty, I couldn’t because I didn’t. I never had to share my computer with anyone, and no one I knew ever had a gaming system when I was growing so, I never had to worry about things like that.

Tossing the flower boxes onto the counter, I pulled out a dozen or so black buckets and began to fill them as I cut the boxes open. Roses…four bouquets of 15 roses each…I hate roses. At least those ones I did. I had to take the time to sheer the leaves and thorns off of each one before cutting them and placing them in water. Sure, I had a nifty little gadget that wrapped around the stem and all I had to do was hold onto it and pull down and it’d sheer them off for me, but it was still a pain. Sighing, I stared down at the roses before pulling out the sheers and shutting off the water. If I played my cards right, I could spend nearly an hour doing this. Then take about ten minutes taking care of the carnations that had come in that morning also. I hated those too, by the way. To be completely honest, I didn’t like the majority of the flowers that came in. Sure they smelled nice, and were pretty to look at, I just didn’t like having to work with them. There were some I did like though. I loved it when our shipment of bamboo plants and bonsai trees would come in. If I could, I’d open my own floral store, but it’d be all Japanese plants.

As I cut and processed what had come in that day, I continued to think back to the day before and the time I’d spent with Mikey. He was a sweet kid, and when I say kid I mean he really did act far more like a kid than anything else. In a way it was refreshing. He’d find the littlest of things amusing and entertaining. Like my little relaxation water fountain in my room. He truly thought that was the coolest thing ever. All it was, was a bowl, a piece of fiberglass with ridges on it, and a little basin on top for the water with a hose hooked up to it. It didn’t even light up. Mikey thought it was ‘Totally awesome’ though. He also thought it was cool that I had gotten to have my own house since I was 18, I’m glad he thought it was a neat thing. Kind of put a damper on my life though. Of course, he thought a lot of things in my life had been cool. Guess that’s kind of appropriate since I had commented on how neat his life had sounded and he didn’t seem to agree.

Mikey definitely was a curious guy. I was amazed at how many questions he managed to come up with in such a short amount of time. Where was my family? What happened to my parents? Where did I work? Where did I go to school? What was I like growing up? What was it like growing up without any brothers? Did I know how to skateboard? Could I rollerblade? Where was the nearest skate park? It was insane!! It was like having a four-year-old following me around. Don’t think that I’m complaining, because I’m not, honest. I actually enjoyed answering the questions. It really was nice to have someone to talk to other than Angie and the few guys I talk to at work. We’d actually spent most of the day bouncing questions off each other and getting to know one another better. It was nice. I did learn though that, even though he tends to act like a kid, he’s really a lot more grown up than he wants to admit.

He told me about why he’d left home and the way his brother’s had been treating him. It was hard for me to hear him talk about how all he’d wanted was some one to spend some time with but all his brother’s had claimed to be too busy to take a quick break and watch his newest trick. He said once they refused he took matters into his own hands and had gone topside to the near by skate park. When he had gotten there, no one was there. Slightly disappointed, he’d just started skating when people started to take notice of him. The look on his face as he spoke about the way the teens cheered him on was no where short of pure bliss. He had loved skating for them. When he got back down to their ‘lair’ as he called it, the only thing his brothers wanted to do was yell at him and lecture him. He didn’t understand how they couldn’t take time out of their so-called busy days to watch him, but yet could wait for who knew how long for him to show back up just so they could chew him out. He claimed he only took off because he wanted to go some place where he’d be appreciated, but I had the feeling he did it because he knew it would get their attention—which is what he had been after all along. Just like leaving this time. He wanted them to remember he’d been there and what it was like to have him around. In a way, I supposed that was both a very grown up yet still very childish thing to do.

I could still hear the story in my head that he’d told about the way he’d always been there for his brothers when they needed a shoulder to lean on. When they were younger, he’d been the last to learn to talk but it wasn’t for lack of trying. He simply didn’t want to start talking. He told me that their Master Splinter had said the reason he was last to start talking was because he was too busy taking in the world around him and trying to cheer his brothers up when they were sad to think about something so trivial as talking. I smiled as I heard his laugh in my head when he said that once he did start talking, the boys wished he never had because he wouldn’t shut up after that. I was somewhat amazed to hear him tell me about the way he’d be able to cool their brother Raphael down when he’d get upset, or how he’d shock the Hell out of Donatello by knowing what he was talking about when it came to electronics. About the only brother he thought he hadn’t been able to impress in any way shape or form had been Leonardo. Then again, the way he talked about Leo, he did sound like a tough guy to impress.

I had been so caught up in thinking that I didn’t even realize I had already finished off the box of roses and carnations along with two boxes of multi-colored bouquets. Time flies when you’re having fun, huh? I also had been so preoccupied that I didn’t even notice when Carson had come over. I really don’t know how long he’d been leaning against the counter watching me, but as I reached onto the counter for my pocket knife I gasped out in surprise as a piece of paper fell onto my hand. Looking up, I gave an embarrassed smile.

“Hey Carson! I didn’t see you there. Ya scared the crap out of me.” I laughed, pretending to clutch my heart and catch my breath. He chuckled and smiled.

“I could tell. You seemed to be in the zone, I didn’t want to break your concentration.”  Carson was a nice guy, not exactly my type, but nice. He was probably in his late twenties or early thirties, possibly around five-foot-ten, and a little on the stocky side. He was always very friendly towards me and was actually the first person, aside from my manager, to try and befriend me when I started working at Sampson’s.

“Trust me, you wouldn’t have been breaking anything if you’d interrupted me. Besides, I go on break in about an hour, so it’s a good thing I saw you now, other wise I probably would have worked through my break.” I smiled as I picked up a few more bouquets and cut off the end of the stems before tossing them into a pail of water. Carson continued to lean on the counter watching me, which was honestly starting to kind of creep me out. But then again, I have been known to be overly paranoid from time to time.

“So, did you do anything fun over the weekend? Have any friends over and party or anything?” I glanced over at him when I heard him start to talk again and chuckled.

“Oh yeah, you know me, I’m a huge partier. But actually, my best friend came up the other night and we stayed up watching movies and stuff. It was fun.”

“Lemme guess…you two probably were sitting in your living room, drinking, and watching chick flicks like ‘Dirty Dancing’ or something.” He joked, smiling as he cocked an eyebrow at me. Boy he was good. I laughed and nodded as I continued to cut the flowers and get them ready to put out on the sales floor.

“As a matter of fact, we did. Dirty Dancing happens to be one of my favorite movies. Howie and I like to watch that movie all the time.” I answered, picking up a couple of buckets and moving around the counter and past him. Setting them down on the floor and rearranging a few other buckets, I turned and moved back to pick up a few more. One thing I disliked about our sales floor, the buckets had to be arranged in color and height order. It made my work life a living hell most days, especially during holidays when everything was rush-rush-rush-but-make-sure-everything-is-as-it-should-be.

“Who’s Howie?”

“Huh? Oh, ha ha, Howie’s my dog. I got him shortly before my parents died. He certainly makes an empty house seem a whole lot safer most nights.” I answered, grabbing the last two buckets and walking past him again. Carson turned to watch me and I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was watching me a little too closely sometimes.

“So it’s just you and your dog?”

I wasn’t sure how to answer that. Before Mikey arrived it had been just me and Howser, but now that wasn’t true anymore. I bit my lip to keep from smiling as I bent to pull out some nasty looking flowers before turning back around. I thought I caught a raised eyebrow and slightly tilted head on Carson but I just shook it off as being paranoid again. Shaking my head, I walked back over to the boxes and picked up my pocket knife again.

“Well, up until a week ago it was just me and him. Last Thursday a friend of mine came up though and he’s spending some time with me.” I lied. Hey, I wasn’t about to tell him that I lived alone. Luckily he at least didn’t know  _where_ lived. Even if he did, he’d probably get lost trying to find it, so I was in the clear.

“Ah…he you’re boyfriend?” It was an honest and serious question, but I couldn’t stop myself from laughing and shaking my head. Mikey? My boyfriend? That really was funny to think about. I mean, c’mon! He’s a TURTLE! I’m not one for two different species getting together. If he had been human, things might have been different.

“Hardly. He’s just a friend passing through.” As soon as the words left my mouth I wanted to reach out and take them all back. I saw a shimmer in Carson’s eyes that almost scared me. And the smug smile that suddenly appeared didn’t make me feel any better either. I watched as he picked up the piece of paper from earlier and handed it to me.

“Well, if you aren’t busy this weekend, gimme a call and we’ll go do something.” I gulped slightly as I shakily reached out and took the piece of paper. Nodding, I forced a smile back on my face and clenched my hand around my closed knife in my pocket.

“Yeah, I might do that. I uh…I should really get back to processing, I have a lot of other things to get done today so…I’ll talk to you later Carson.” I said, quickly trying to find an out for myself as I opened the cooler to get more buckets. I heard him say goodbye as I stepped into the cooler and waited there for a minute or two until I was sure he was gone. Maybe it was the cold or maybe it was the way he acted, but something made me shiver as I exited my safe haven with the buckets. I was probably just paranoid, I mean, Carson always was very nice and seemed like a good guy. Of course, then again, so did Jake. That was it, I was still iffy about getting into another relationship because I didn’t want it ending like me and Jake. Ok, I’ll buy that. Makes perfect sense. Right? It didn’t matter really I supposed, but it did make me feel better to think it was that and not that Carson was some creepy stalker dude.

A small smile spread across my face. “Creepy stalker dude” that sounded like something Mikey would say. I shook my head again as I went back to processing, making a silent note to myself to avoid the meat department for the rest of the afternoon and try not to make any form of contact with Carson if at all possible. I was going to be so glad when 3:30 rolled around and I could go home and hang out with my new friend.

I spent the rest of my work day busying myself the best I could while avoiding going near the meat department. I even managed to dodge Carson once by ducking into the women’s restroom. Once it was time for me to leave and my replacement had shown up, I practically ran to the break room to clock out before grabbing my things and rushing out to the truck. I just wanted to get home, change clothes, fix something to eat and possibly curl up and watch some movies before going to bed.

When I finally got home, I was greeted by the sounds of music blasting from the living room. At first I was scared thinking someone had broken in. Then I remembered Mikey had said that he loved to blast music. He wasn’t kidding. I was surprised no windows had shattered yet. Walking in, I glanced around in search of him. It wouldn’t have done me any good to call out his name, he wouldn’t have heard me anyways. When I didn’t find him in the living room playing X-Box I figured he must have been in the kitchen cooking something to eat. Not thinking anything more of it, I jogged up the stairs to change clothes. Bopping my head in time with the music, I smiled as I began to sing along with it.

“I never knew/ I never knew that everything was falling through/ that everyone I knew was waiting on a queue/ to turn and run when all I needed was the truth/ but that’s how it’s got to be/ it’s coming down to nothing more than apathy/ I’d rather run the other way than stay and see/ the smoke and who’s still standing when it clears. Everyone knows I’m in/ over my head/ with eight seconds left in overtime/ she’s on your mind…” I was still singing and dancing to myself as I tugged off my shirt and started to change out of my work pants. Twisting around to grab another shirt my eyes went as wide as silver dollars. Until that moment I had no clue it was possible for turtles to blush. I seriously think we both had turned about as red as my work shirt and his eyes were probably just as big around as mine were right then. Spinning back around and yanking my T-shirt over my head, I scrambled to get myself covered up again as I heard Mikey start apologizing up one side and down the other. I had actually forgotten for a moment that my computer was up in my room and that he’d been interested in using it that day. Clamping my eyes closed, I heard him continue to apologize as he rushed past me and raced back down the stairs. Memo to self, get privacy screen to change behind.

Finally feeling my cheeks cool down a little, I peeked out and sighed softly. Great, the first guy to see me without a shirt on and it was a mutant turtle. I felt my cheeks flare up again and knitted my eyebrows together in confusion. Was it the fact that I had just embarrassed myself in front of Mikey that was making me blush, or was it possible that just the thought of him seeing me without a shirt on was making me blush? I quickly changed into a pair of jeans before moving for the stairs. The music had been turned off and I heard pots and pans clanking around in the kitchen. Gulping and slightly nervous, I stepped up into the kitchen’s doorway. Mikey was busying himself at the stove though his cheeks were still a deep reddish/green color. I took a deep breath and forced a brave smile onto my face as I stepped up to the fridge.

“Uh…uh…I…I’m sorry, Gwen. I…”

“It’s ok, Mikey. It’s ok…I should have been paying more attention. I’m so use to coming home and just getting changed right away that I guess I kind of forgot that you said you were going to use to computer. It’s not your fault.” I answered, forcing my voice to sound smooth and cool though inside I was stammering just as badly as he was. I saw him give a little bit of a nod though he wouldn’t look at me. Probably for the best, I would have turned red again if he did anyway. I grabbed a Mt. Dew out of the fridge and a bag of chips off the counter.

“I’m uh…I’m gonna pop in a movie. You’re more than welcome to watch it with me if you want.” I said, turning and heading back into the living room.

“Uh…o-ok, sure.” I faintly heard him answer. Finding something to break the tension between us again, I pulled out one of my all time favorite comedies and popped it into the DVD player and hit play. As the movie started playing, I curled up on my chair and waited for Mikey to come back in. When he did, he was holding a sandwich and a can of soda also. Sitting down on the couch, he glanced over at me and gave a somewhat coy smile before looking back at the TV.

“I uh, I didn’t see anything.” He said softly, shoving a corner of his sandwich into his mouth. I smiled and turned back to the screen as one of my favorite lines was coming up.

“I believe you.”

_“…Mickey Zimmerman. Tragically, Zimmerman was born without a personality.”_

_“Hello…”_  


	9. Turn On's

::Mikey’s POV::

All throughout the movie, I dunno why but, I kept looking over at Gwen. She was all curled up on the chair drinking a Mt. Dew and smiling. She kinda reminded me of a story Splinter told us once about sailors in the old days who spent so much time at sea and would end up crashing into rocks cuz they’d follow the sounds of a woman singing. At least I think that’s what it was. Well, that was Gwen. Something about her, her smile of her laugh, it always made me look over at her and smile myself.

I dunno what it was about her. I mean, there wasn’t anything really special about her. Well, ok, so maybe there was if she treated me like I’m normal and hadn’t exactly had a total freak attack on me yet. But still. I couldn’t figure it out. She wasn’t like the girls my bro’s were into. Raph claimed to like ‘fiery redheads’ who didn’t ask too many questions and preferably were walking toothpicks. Donnie always had a soft-spot for the shy girl next door kind. And Leo…well…now that I think about it, Leon’s never really ever shown an interest in  _any_ type. Of course, then again, that’s about par for him I guess. Me on the other hand, I dunno what I always leaned towards. Guess I always thought I never stood a chance, so why bother?

Do you think it’s possible for a human to fall in love with a giant mutated turtle? Maybe love’s too strong a word, but at least consider it? I know back when we were younger April had a friend who was totally crushin’ on Donnie. Irma, ha, she use to drive Don up the walls! She always used to follow him around and try to convince him that he was her knight in green armor. Never worked. Boy was he glad once she got over him and moved away. So I guess maybe it’s not  _that_ far fetched but, still. Gwen was prob’ly too smart to do that. Plus, she prob’ly already had a beau.

I sighed heavily and looked back at the movie. She said it was called “Sgt. Bilko.” It was actually pretty funny…for a Steve Martin movie anyways. Gwen seemed to really enjoy it. She would sit there, mouthing out lines and acting out scenes along with it. It was kinda cute…she was kinda cute. My eyes suddenly went wide. Did I really just think that? Whoa! Sure I’d had crushes before—I mean we all thought April was a babe when we first saw her and then there was Mitsu…but now that I think about it, she really wasn’t my type after all…plus the whole culture difference? Never woulda worked out. I can’t survive without pizza!

My thoughts suddenly drifted back to Gwen. Never in my life did I want to be a human more than I did then. Ya know, my bro’s would prob’ly love her. She’s the only person to make me actually wanna give being a grown-up a try. Boy did that thought scare me outta my shell. It was true though. I’ll fill ya’s in on a little secret not even my bro’s know. The reason I’m so scared of growin’ up is…well…I don’t wanna be lonely. I mean, face it, I’m a turtle…it’s a little hard to fit in…that and I couldn’t make a topsider live in the sewers. That just wouldn’t be fair to them. I figure if I could stay as kid like as possible then I wouldn’t be lonely. Sounds pretty dumb, huh?

Gwen laughed at something on the movie and it made me wanna hide in my shell ‘cuz I felt myself blush again. It wasn’t until she got home that I started feelin’ this way. I guess I shoulda been payin’ more attention to the time instead of my game. I didn’t know it was already four o’clock. Actually, I didn’t even notice her until I heard someone singing behind me. I turned around just as her head disappeared into her shirt and—I didn’t mean to—I froze. She was the first babe…er…woman I mean, that I’d ever seen like that. Sure I’d seen movies that showed off a lot more than that but, I’d never seen it like that! Damn I was startin’ to feel like a totally over sheltered kid! Twenty-one years old and never been face-to-face with a half clothed person. I gulped thinking about it again. At the time I’d been more shocked than anything else, but thinkin’ back on how soft an’ smooth an’ milky her skin looked stirred emotions in me that I’d been tryin’ the majority of my life to keep down.

Ya know, Master Splinter taught us a lot of thing when we were little. How to read and write, arithmetic, history, how to fight and defend ourselves, and basic science…he just never taught us the more—uh—advanced science classes. Sex Ed was the one subject Splinter never taught us for some reason. Then again, at the time when he was teaching us things, we didn’t even know what it was, so it prob’ly didn’t seem like it would matter. It wasn’t until Donnie got our TV workin’ and managed to siphon off someone’s cable into our lair that we found out about sex. That was funny! We were prob’ly twelve or thirteen when Raph stumbled upon that channel. Could ya imagine the look on our faces when we saw what was going on? At first, we all looked confused, then we kinda looked at it like it was a new sort of TV show that we just came in on in the middle of and were trying to figure it out. Leo lost interest after a little while though and went off to practice his katas and Donnie got embarrassed by it I think. When I glanced over to ask him something he had this look on his face an’ his cheeks were kinda red. Before I could ask him my question though, he got up and went runnin’ for his room. I remember I just kinda shrugged and looked back at the TV. Raph sure was finding it interesting, but at the time I didn’t understand. When Splinter got home though, I asked him about it. I didn’t understand what was so bad about me asking about it that  _I_ got in trouble for it! A couple years later, I finally got the courage to ask Donnie about it. Try gettin’ a crash course sex ed class from a certifiable genius…it wasn’t easy…or at all comfortable for either of us. 

Since then, I’d always tried to keep myself from getting into situations like that again. If we were watchin’ a movie with a lot of sex scenes in it, I’d make up an excuse to get out of finish watchin’ it or just find a serious interest in the floor. Don’t watch it, can’t get uncomfortable, can’t get embarrassed. But seeing Gwen without her shirt on, and swaying back and forth? I couldn’t stop myself from sorta squirming in my chair and fidgeting. Damn that annoyin’ burning feeling in my gut! What I wouldn’t give for someplace to board and get my mind off her an’ how bad she was-uh-yeah…turnin’ me on. I was so glad Raph an’ Donnie weren’t around then. They woulda been pickin’ on me so bad for how red my face prob’ly was.

“Mikey? You ok?” Gwen asked from the couch once the movie was over. I didn’t even notice the movie had ended. I forced myself to smile and nod. I couldn’t let her know how I felt, it’d scare her. She smiled and stood up. Grabbin’ her soda bottle and pattin’ my shoulder, she walked into the kitchen. Why couldn’t I have been hatched a girl? Then I wouldn’t have this prob…well…ok so maybe I still woulda after all. I gulped as I watched her walk. I had to get out for awhile; I was goin’ nuts!

“Uh…uh Gwen? Didn’t you say there was a skate park a few minutes from ‘ere?” I called going and retrieving my board from under the chair. Maybe if I could just go board for awhile and clear my mind, I’d be fine. I heard her walk back in and start cleaning up a little. She’d taken her hair out of the ponytail and it fell down in front of her face as she leaned down to pick up a paper plate. Was she tryin’ to kill me or somethin’?!

“Yeah…there’s a really lame one in town, but it’s over run with posers and jerkoffs. Plus, I don’t know if it’d be safe for you to go there. Small town folk aren’t use to seeing five foot tall talking turtles.”

“Oh…” I groaned inwardly. I had to get out. I was startin’ to feel like I’d been stuck in a boiling pot to be turned into turtle soup. Gulping, I looked down at my board frantically trying to think.

“But…there is one place I can take you. It’s about a forty-five minute ride, but you’d have the place all to yourself for as long as you like.” I looked up and felt like a magnet since our eyes automatically locked. My mouth went dry and I struggled to gulp down again as I shrugged.

“Ok…s-sounds good. Where?” I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of being trapped in her truck with her for forty-five minutes but, if I got to board for as long as I wanted, I was all for it.

“It’s a place called The Hole. A friend of my dad’s owns it. It used to be real big with all the skaters but, a few years ago he closed it. Told me though that if I ever wanted to use it or something to call him and he’d open it up for me. Lemme just go call him real quick and grab a few things and we can go.” I watched her go jogging up the stairs and felt myself start to breathe again. I shook my head and looked down at my skateboard again.

“Snap outta it Michelangelo! You’re gonna get yourself in trouble.” I snapped at myself, heading for the door. I headed out and got into the truck, still cursing and muttering at myself for acting like that. I knew I didn’t stand a chance so I had to stop torturing myself like I was. I was ninja, master of self-control…huh…yeah right!

I watched as Gwen locked the door and bounded down the steps. I didn’t know what she had and as hard as it was for me to do, I forced myself to look away. I heard her get in and close the door before tossing a black bag into the back. I wanted to ask her about it, but I couldn’t. This was quickly becoming the worst kind of torture I’d ever experienced.

“Howie’s not happy. Poor guy.” I heard her say as she started the truck and got us turned around. I didn’t say anything, just stared out the window, forcing myself to think of something other than Gwen.

I had no clue where we ended up going to, it didn’t really matter to me. The building looked like a rundown factory and wasn’t exactly what I’d been picturing, but it was a place to skate. Grabbing my board, I quickly hopped out and waited impatiently for Gwen. I had done good trying to avoid looking at her but still keep talking so she didn’t think anything was up. I saw her pick her bag out of the back and swing it over her shoulder as she closed and locked the truck. Smiling, she led me to a side door and walked in. Her friend had unlocked the door before we got there to make sure we had a way in and out. Gwen had told me on the way over that the guy had opened it originally as a place where his son and his friends could have a safe place to skate, but that when he’d died while in the army the dad shut it down. He had left everything intact though for the few people who would ask to use it from time-to-time. I thought that was pretty cool of him.

A few lights had been switched on for us too. Not all of ‘em, but enough so that we could see where we were going and what we were doing. I followed Gwen through a hall and when we reached the main room, my heart stopped. It was the second most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. Half-pipes, full-pipes, ramps, grinding rails, even…oh my God it couldn’t be!

“A bowl!?” I heard myself exclaim excitedly. Gwen laughed and nodded.

"The largest bowl in probably the state. That’s why Bob named this place ‘The Hole’. Lyle loved boarding and biking in empty swimming pools so Bob knew he had to make this as big as he could. It even goes from shallow end to deep end.”

I had died and gone to Heaven! Dropping my board, I took off like a bat outta Hell. I had never seen a place so awesome outside my video games. I gave a whoop as I flew down into the bowl and began showing off. I’d been so into my stunts that I didn’t even notice when music started blasting from the speakers. I was having the time of my life! True the sewers did offer some pretty gnarly boarding experiences but for some reason I was having more fun right then than I’d ever had down there. Ramping out of the bowl, I quickly moved to the different pipes to try out. I’d built a half-pipe in the lair but it was nothing compared to these!

I was right in thinking that getting to skateboard for awhile would get Gwen out of my head. It did. All I was thinking about was what I could do next and where. True, I could see her smiling and cheering me on from the stairs she was sitting on, but it didn’t phase me—well—not as bad anyhow. At one point I glanced over as she pulled on a pair of blades and smiled. I kept an eye on her as she moved towards a mini-half pipe and started just skating up and down it.

“Poser!” I shouted playfully. She made a face and stuck her tongue out at me.

“Shut up! I haven’t done this since I was 15! And it was show offs like you who made me stop.” She shouted back, arms crossed. I laughed a little and just continued with my fun. I had to keep her out of my head. Clearing my mind, I dove back into the bowl.

* * *

 

::Gwen’s POV::

I tried to blade around, but I didn’t have much luck. I was hopeless, at least when it came to doing stunts. Don’t get me wrong, I could blade, I was even pretty speedy at it and could weave in and out of things like a pro, just don’t ask me to do any stunts. Going up and down small ramps and half-pipes I was fine with—not very good at—but fine with. I was no where near as good at it as Mikey though. It was obvious that he’d been doing this for a long, long time. Finally giving up, I went back to my perch on the stairs to watch him.

It was as if his board was an extension to his body. The way he rose into the air and dove down again was almost like watching a bird dive into water after a fish. Smiling to myself, I took off my blades and carefully put them back into my bag. Watching him for a little while longer, I finally dug around into my bag and pulled out my trusty camera. I honestly wasn’t sure how much longer Mikey was going to be with me, and I wanted photographic evidence that he was real. Since it was clear his ankle wasn’t bothering him anymore, he was free to leave any time he wanted. And with as awkward as it was driving up here, I was afraid that ‘any time’ was arriving quicker than I wanted. With a sad smile, I quickly began to take snap shots of him.

I really don’t know how long we’d been there, or how long it had taken me to go through three rolls of film, but what I did know was that it was becoming increasingly warmer in there by the minute. At first I thought something was wrong, that maybe a fuse had blown and caught something on fire and we were going to burn alive in there. When I didn’t see any smoke coming from anywhere though, I brushed that thought aside and realized what it was. I had been looking past Mikey’s outside and was quickly starting to see an actual person inside him instead of a turtle. Wow, I really was lonely. It was true though! Blushing, I glanced down at the camera again and then at the rolls of film. I silently chided myself; it wasn’t possible for me to be falling for Mikey. It just wasn’t. We were so completely different, and it just wasn’t right. But still, as I watched him rocket into the air, spin his board around and then land it back on the ramp flawlessly, I felt my heart skip a beat.

I remembered my grandma telling me once when I was a little girl that she knew grandpa was the one for her because whenever she saw him her heart would skip a beat. I remember thinking how romantic that sounded and how I wished that someday I could find someone who made my heart skip. I just never imagined that that person could be a turtle. Thinking back on it though, of all the boyfriends I had had, none of them ever made me feel this way. Sure there had been the ones who made my heart race, but never did they make it skip a beat. Yet as I sat there watching Mike having fun, the dim lights reflecting off his sweat covered arms, I felt myself starting to fall for him more and more. Without much thought of it, I tugged my T-shirt off to reveal my tank top. It was getting far too warm in there to wear both shirts.

I had just looked back down at my camera when Mikey popped back up out of the oversized empty swimming pool. I’m not sure what happened or why, but the next thing I heard was him giving a surprised yelp and suddenly wiping out on the flat ground. My head shot up and I looked over at him in confusion. Biting back a small laugh, I sprang to my feet and rushed over to him to make sure he was alright.

“Whoa…wipe out…I’m ok!” He called as I neared closer to him. He was sitting back a little and holding his head. Smiling, I knelt down next to him and took his hand. Pulling it away from his head, I quickly gave him the once over. He seemed to be fine, but he did have a slightly uncomfortable look in his eyes as I checked to make sure he hadn’t hurt himself. At first I was confused as to why he would look that way, and then I remembered I wasn’t wearing my T-shirt like I was before. Giving a small smile, I stood back up and took his hand again.

“You ok?” I asked, still smiling and holding his hand. It was strange how, even though I had five fingers and he only had three that our hands seemed to fit together almost perfectly. You’d think that since he’s a turtle also that his skin would be all scaly and reptile like…but it wasn’t really. I mean, it was to an extent, but it actually felt more like my own skin than that of a turtle. I didn’t realize that I had even looked down at our hands until I heard Mike cough and slowly pull it away. Blushing a little, I stuffed my hands into my pockets.

“Yeah…I’m fine. What happened to your T-shirt?”

“Oh, it’s over there with my stuff. I got warm, so I took it off.” He nodded and quickly stood up. Kicking the end of his skateboard up, he caught the other end with his hand and glanced over at my bag. I moved back to the stairs and quickly gathered my things together before tugging my T-shirt back on. Zipping my film into an inside pocket securely, I smiled back at him and headed for the exit.

“Are we ready to go?”

"Yeah…I guess.”


	10. Changes

::Gwen’s POV::

For some reason, after that day, Mikey seemed different to me. He no longer bubbled with child like enthusiasm to just have fun. He seemed…distant. I wasn’t sure why, but I had the feeling it was all because of that little incident of him seeing me without my shirt on. Whatever the reason, I was quickly beginning to feel as if I was the only one living in my house again. I’d wake up in the mornings before work and he’d either still be on the couch sleeping or would be out practicing with his nunchakus. He seemed to make it a point to avoid me as much as he could. On my days’ off, he’d spend most of his time out wandering the woods with Howie. All the while, I felt left out and alone, which nearly broke my heart though I still wasn’t sure why.

I thought I had finally convinced myself that I didn’t love Mikey, that I  _couldn’t_ love him. That seemed to make his avoidance a little easier on me, though it still hurt. I at least had thought he had become my friend. Guess I turned out to be wrong. Every once in a great while, he would sit and watch a movie with me for awhile, or would kick my ass on a video game, but that didn’t happen much.

I had actually become so lonely, that on more than one occasion I actually thought about calling Carson just so I could have someone to go out and get a drink with. Angela would have gladly gone with me, had she not have started a new summer job that kept her busy nearly every weekend and most of the weekdays. Even Howie seemed to spend more time away from me than with me. For more than three weeks, I felt as alone and unwanted as I did before Mikey came into my life.

May had turned to early June and I was really starting to despise waking up every morning and having to go to work. I supposed it didn’t help any that I discovered a few weeks earlier that I was ironically allergic to at least three different kinds of flowers we would get in regularly. Also the thought of having to spend the majority of my day cooped up inside when I could be out having fun on extremely nice days seemed to irk me quite a bit. I felt like I had become a robot or something. Wake up, take a shower, eat breakfast, get dressed, go to work, putz around for eight hours, come home, get changed, eat, go to bed—rinse and repeat.

It was on one of those oh so not exciting days at work that I was once again approached by Carson. Amazingly enough, I was exactly excited to see him come walking down the candy aisle to come and talk to me. Had I become lonely or what? He still made me a little uncomfortable, but at that point in time, I didn’t care. It was someone to talk to, human contact. He looked as if he had just gotten off of an eight hour shift and was getting ready to go home. Lucky bastard.

“Hey you! I was starting to think you’d fallen off the edge of the earth or something. You never come by the meat department anymore.” He called as he got closer to the counter. I gave a small smile and shrugged as I leaned back against the garbage can with my hands in my pockets. It had been an extremely slow day thus far and I wasn’t feeling at all ambitious enough to go through and water all the plants.

“I haven’t had a reason to. When I get in most days, my load is already sitting here. And on the days it’s not, you aren’t working. So see? It’s partly your fault too.” I joked. It was true too. Carson smiled and glanced at the time on the phone before he leaned against the counter like he usually would.

“So, what time do you get off work tonight?” I thought for a minute before taking the schedule down off the wall. Finding the right day and line for my name, I sighed and hung it back up. Moving back to my garbage can perch, I raised an eyebrow and sighed again.

“Seven. I take it you’re done for the night?”

“Yup. What you doing after work? Wanna go out for a drink?” Damn was I tempted to take him up on that offer. Not so much going out for a drink with him, just going out for a drink in general. I actually thought about it for a minute too. Then I remembered Mikey and knew that I couldn’t just go out drinking with him back at home, no matter how badly I wanted to. He had, after all, always left a note for me saying where he went when ever he’d go out and I wasn’t around or something, and I couldn’t go out drinking and not tell him. Taking a deep breath, I let it out slowly and shook my head.

“Thanks Carson, but I really shouldn’t. Not tonight anyways.”

“Not a problem. What about tomorrow night? I’m not working tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow I can do. Seven o’clock?” The words left my mouth before I had time to think about it. I mentally started kicking myself repeatedly as I saw him smile and nod. There was still something not right about it, but there was no getting out of it now. I watched as he pushed himself up off the counter and moved around to the aisle.

“Seven sounds good. I’ll pick you up. See ya.” He said before walking off. Once he was out of view, I opened the back cooler and walked in, smacking my forehead against the wall. How could I be so stupid? I must have been lonelier than I made myself believe. Sighing, I pulled myself together again and walked back out. Finding something to keep myself busy with, I tried not to think about what had just happened. Of course, it was only one night, right? A simple drink between two friends and co-workers. Nothing wrong with that, except for the fact that I wasn’t exactly comfortable around him lately. I glanced at the clock and groaned. Two more hours.

Once my sentencing had ended and I was released back into the world, I trudged out to my truck and headed straight home. All I really wanted was to take a nice, long, hot shower before throwing in a frozen pizza and curling up on the couch for awhile. Alright so, maybe that wasn’t the only thing I wanted, but, Mikey was avoiding me so I couldn’t curl up with him.

When I got home, I was amazed to find him sitting in the living room flipping through the channels. I was even more amazed when he glanced over at me and actually  _smiled_ ! That was the first time in over three weeks that he’d really smiled at me. Suddenly my heart skipped again and the butterflies returned to my stomach. I smiled back and moved into the kitchen. A boiling pot of water was on the stove along with a simmering pot of spaghetti sauce. Sitting in a glass next to the stove was a fist full of broken angel hair pasta noodles. He was making us dinner? I sniffed the air and felt my mouth begin to water. Garlic bread…he was baking garlic bread. I gave a quiet groan as I cracked open the oven door and took another sniff of the air. It smelled fabulous. Setting my bag down in the hallway, I poked my head back into the living room.

“Your spaghetti water is boiling, Mikey.” I watched as he looked over at me from over the back of the couch. There was a certain twinkle in his eyes that made my knees go weak and forced me to tighten my hold on the doorframe. God, why was he a turtle!?

“Thanks! You hungry? I think I started making more than I could eat all on my own.” He said as he got up off the couch and moved past me. I couldn’t help but chuckle when I saw him. He’d put his blue jeans and hoodie back on for the first time since the night I picked him up. After seeing him in nothing more than a beat up old brown belt and elbow/knee pads, he looked sort of silly in human clothes.

“Yeah, I’m starving actually. Uh…I’m gonna take a quick shower though, so…”

“That’s cool. I’ll make sure it’s nice and hot for when you get out.” He called from the kitchen. I smiled slightly and ran up the stairs to grab my PJ’s. My heart felt as if it were playing hop-scotch in my ribcage and my stomach—in between rumbles of hunger—was filled with the wings of butterflies. Yanking my little boom box cord out of the wall, I grabbed a CD also and went running back down stairs and into the bathroom. Looking at myself in the mirror, I couldn’t believe how big of a smile I had on my face. Mikey was talking to me again! And he’d made us dinner! Things were really starting to look up.

* * *

 

::Mikey’s POV::

I felt horrible about the way I’d been treatin’ Gwen. It wasn’t her fault, so why was I punishing her? I just needed some time to think things through and weigh my options. I could either stay there with her where I knew I was safe, or I could pack my things and hit the road again and never see her again. That option didn’t look all too good to me, so I decided to stick around. I just needed time to get myself under total control again before I could trust myself to be around her. I guess I prob’ly shoulda told her something, but, what was I supposed to say? “Oh yeah, Gwen, the reason I’m avoiding you is so I don’t try to jump you…just so ya know.” Yeah, that woulda gone over real good. But actually, all the time I spent away from her didn’t help me much, if anything it really only made it worse. I mean, I’d try to avoid her at all costs just so I didn’t slip and try to make a move on her or anything, and then when I’d see her—well—she only looked even better than before. Talk about your all time plan back fires, huh?

I smiled a little to myself when I heard the water start running in the bathroom. I actually was making spaghetti and garlic bread for the both of us. I had decided earlier that day that I was going to tell her how I felt about her. Even if it meant I suddenly found myself thrown out on my shell, I was gonna tell her. I’d seen enough movies to know that when a guy finally admits his true feelin’s for a girl, they’d do it over a nice dinner and a movie. Well, I already had dinner started, so all I needed to do then was pick out a movie. Headin’ into the living room, I scanned through her flicks until I found one I liked. “50 First Dates” Adam Sandler, funny, and semi-romantic! I couldn’t lose! I was just about to get it ready when the phone rang.

“Hello?” I asked, picking it up as I turned on the TV and DVD player. At first I thought they’d hung up ‘cuz I didn’t hear anything. I was about to hang up when the person finally decided to answer me.

“Hello? Who is this?” The dude didn’t sound too happy about me answering Gwen’s phone. Hearin’ his tone instantly made me straighten up a little and go on alert. I still hadn’t told Gwen about the dude who’d been snoopin’ around a lot lately; I didn’t wanna freak her out. As long as I was around, I wasn’t gonna let anything bad happen to her.

“This is Mikey…who’s this?”

“Could I speak to Gwen, please?” Huh, he may have asked nicely but he failed to answer my first question and that didn’t earn any points with me. I narrowed my eyes a little and silently moved through the house to lock the doors and make sure Howie was inside safe and sound. That mutt and I had become good friends and I wasn’t gonna let him get hurt either.

“You gonna tell me who you are, first?” There was a pause on the line and I swore I heard leaves ruffling. I glanced out of one of the windows and scanned the woods carefully. I wasn’t about to take any chances.

“This is Carson Pressman, Gwen’s boyfriend. You must be the friend of hers that is passing through.” There was something in his voice that set me on edge. Course, hearin’ him call himself Gwen’s boyfriend also made me a little edgy. Not to mention shatter my heart into a thousand little pieces. She’d never said anything about havin’ a boyfriend, but then again, I hadn’t exactly been around her enough lately for her to say anyways. Gulping back the lump that was forming in my throat, I glanced at the bathroom sadly. I’d waited too long and now it was too late.

“Uh…yeah…that’s me, just her friend passin’ through. Uh…she’s actually busy right now. I’ll uh…I’ll let her know you called.” I answered sadly. I seriously could not feel my heart anymore. It was like I went totally numb. I moved back into the kitchen, still holding the phone and looked at the dinner I was making. No use lettin’ it go to waste, might as well finish it and eat it. I thought I heard Carson give a small chuckle which kinda ticked me off more.

“No, that’s alright, I’ll just talk to her tomorrow night when I pick her up. Thanks Mike…”

“Mik _ey_ …” I grumbled, not even waiting for a goodbye before I clicked the end button and dropped it down onto the counter. I heard the water shut off and knew it was only gonna be a couple of minutes before Gwen would come back out. I figured it was prob’ly best to act like nothin’ was wrong even though I knew how hard that was gonna be. Hard? Huh, try next to impossible. I pulled the garlic bread out of the oven and set it over the sink to let it cool a little before I went back into the living room. No use watchin’ “50 First Dates”. I was suddenly in the mood for a movie without a happy ending, only thing was, Gwen didn’t have any. Sighing heavily, I grabbed one of the “Lethal Weapons” movies and stuck that in instead.

When I got back into the kitchen to get the plates and silverware out, I heard the bathroom door open and Gwen come walking out. A part of me wanted to look over and admire how beautiful she looked with her hair soakin’ wet and hangin’ down around her face. The other part of me though wanted to sink into my shell and never see her again. I heard her set her boom box down on the stairs before she shuffled into the kitchen and moved up next to me. The scent of vanilla and coconuts filled my head and nearly made me dizzy it smelled so good. I gave a quick glance at her before movin’ over to the spaghetti sauce.

“It’s almost ready.” I said, tryin’ hard to make it sound like nothin’ was botherin’ me.

“That’s fine. Need any help with anything?” Yeah, I needed lots of help, too bad it was nothin’ she could help with. At least, not any more. I shook my head and stirred the sauce a little more before takin’ it off the stove.

“Nah, I got it.” I turned back to the still boilin’ noodles and stabbed at them with the spoon. Why did she all of the sudden have to get a boyfriend? Why wouldn’t she tell me? I thought we were friends. Guess it just went to show I had been right all along. I really didn’t stand a chance with her. Why did I always have to go and get my hopes up like that? Worse yet, how come I’d been hatched the hopeless romantic? Life really wasn’t fair and I was livin’ proof of that!

I finally got our dinner finished and set out on plates. My original plan was to eat dinner with her and then durin’ the movie get her all curled up against me and whisper that I—well at least thought I did—loved her. Aw who was I tryin’ to kid? I did love her. Boyfriend or not, nothin’ was gonna change the way I felt about her. The only thing that had changed now was that, I  _couldn’t_ tell her the way I felt. I forced a smile onto my face as I handed her the plate of spaghetti and garlic bread. I’m tellin’ ya, the smile she gave me back made the place where my heart  _used_ to be twist in so much pain I nearly started cryin’. Gulping back that stupid threatenin’ lump in my throat, I moved out into the living room and sat down on the couch. I almost got up and moved when she sat down next me, but I didn’t want her thinkin’ I was tryin’ to avoid her again.

We sat there eatin’ and watchin’ “Lethal Weapon” for awhile without sayin’ much to each other. When Gwen finished eatin’, she set her plate down on the coffee table and curled up on the couch a little. I gave a small sigh and rested my head on my hand as I leaned my elbow against the arm of the couch. I’d been starin’ off into space for awhile before I finally felt Gwen move a little and felt her press her shoulder and head onto my arm. My eyes went wide and I glanced down at her. She looked like she was about to fall asleep. Giving a sad, small smile, I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and pulled her in closer to me.

“Thank you for dinner, Mikey.” I heard her say sleepily. I chuckled slightly but nodded. She sounded so adorable half-asleep.

“You’re welcome, Gwen.” Glancin’ down at her, I saw her eyes flutter closed and smiled a little. Turnin’ off the movie, I carefully stood up and scooped her up into my arms. It nearly brought me to my knees when she wrapped her arms around my neck and snuggled down against me. I slowly headed up the stairs with Howie followin’ close behind. I wanted to just lay down on the futon and keep her curled up against me, but, I figured that prob’ly woulda ended up makin’ her scream in the mornin’ to find her layin’ next to a turtle. Sighing, I gently laid her down and grabbed her pillow from off the top bunk. She smiled slightly in her sleep and settled down into the pillow. As I stood there watchin’ her sleep, I reached out and slowly ran my fingers through her silky soft hair. I wished I coulda had five fingers like she did; I bet her hair woulda felt even better then. Sighing, I leaned down and closed my eyes. The coconut scented shampoo still hung in the air around her head and it really smelled good. Gulping, I moved over a little and kissed her really softly so I didn’t wake her up.

 "I love you, Gwen…” Ok, so it wasn’t exactly like I had originally planned, but hey, it worked.


	11. "Not my boyfriend"

::Gwen’s POV::’

When I woke up the next morning I looked around thinking I was still on the couch next to Mikey. How the Hell did I get upstairs and onto the futon? The last thing I actually remembered was being curled up against Mikey watching “Lethal Weapon” and then…well…I could have sworn it was a dream but maybe it wasn’t. I thought he picked me up and brought me upstairs and then kissed me…I thought maybe even told me he loved me. I was still too tired to try and figure it all out though. All I wanted was to get up, go for my morning jog, and then eat breakfast. I had thought about going grocery shopping too, but quickly knocked that thought out of my head. We had enough to get by a few more days, or at least until my next paycheck.

Getting up, I shuffled down the stairs, expecting to see Mikey making breakfast already. Giving a small smile, I walked in and stopped. The kitchen was empty and looked like it had been for quite a while. Must not have been awake yet, yeah, that’s what it was. Mikey was still knocked out on the couch. I moved from the kitchen to the living room in hopes of waking him up. He wasn’t there either. Frowning, I began to search the lower levels of my house. Nothing, not even a note. I was starting to get a little concerned as I moved back up the stairs to get changed for my jog. He had to have been around there somewhere. I mean, a turtle that size doesn’t just disappear—he wasn’t like my Hermes was. One day Hermes was in the bathtub swimming, the next no one seemed to know where he went. I always had my suspicions though that my dad had thrown him out. He always hated my poor little turtle.

Digging through my dresser drawer, I found my jogging clothes and tossed them onto the futon. Moving to the closet, I pulled out my ratty old sneakers and a light weight jacket. I couldn’t remember when it was I had finally taken up jogging, or at least, attempted to take it up. I would jog every day for awhile and then it turned to every other day…then every few days…every couple of weeks….a couple times a month….then it just became whenever I felt like doing that much movement early in the morning. So it didn’t happen very often anymore. I moved back to my futon and grabbed my shirt.

“I’d wait ‘till I got downstairs again to do that if I were you, dudette.” I jumped when I heard the groggy voice above my head. Stepping back and looking up, I saw Mikey reach for his bandana that was hanging on the rail to my loft bed and then retie it around his head. So  _that’s_ where he was! Putting hand over my heart, I smiled and shook my head.

“You scared the snot outta me!” I laughed, still smiling as he slowly made his way down the ladder. So it  _hadn’t_ been a dream? He really did carry me up the stairs and put me to bed. I felt myself blush a little and smile just a little bit more as he turned to face me. He still looked so tired that I had to wonder how much sleep he had actually gotten the night before.

“Sorry…” he said softly, moving for the stairs. I knitted my eyebrows together and my smile was gone. What? No good morning, babe? I sighed and looked back at my jogging clothes. Something had changed with him again. I had thought for sure that I had gotten him back again. I suddenly didn’t have the energy to go jogging that morning. Leaving my clothes where they were, I went back down stairs to talk to Mikey, or at least try to.

“I’m gonna go practice, I’ll be back later.” I heard him call as I got to the bottom step. So much for talking. I felt my shoulders slump along with my spirits as I went and sat down in the living room to watch him head off into the woods. I smiled a little as I saw Howie go bounding off after him and sighed wistfully. Picking up my phone, I quickly called the one person I could always talk to no matter what.

“Ugh…hello?”

“Angie?”

* * *

 

::Mikey’s POV::

Ok, so I was bein’ childish. I didn’t care. I didn’t want Gwen to have a boyfriend—well—at least not one who wasn’t me. So what if that sounded selfish? It was true!  I had thought maybe finally I’d found someone who saw past me bein’ a turtle and saw me for who I was; Michelangelo a 21 year old guy who only wanted someone to love and be loved by—oh and uh, heh, eat pizza, skateboard, and have fun of course.

I ended up spending most of the rest of the day outta the house. I didn’t wanna be there. Well, yeah, ok so I did, but…I didn’t wanna see Gwen gettin’ ready for her date and all. I knew if I was there, I woulda make both of us super uncomfortable and I didn’t want that. So I stayed out in the woods and down by the creek all day. It was a nice day out, nice and warm which made for awesome swimming weather. The creek wasn’t exactly big enough for me to swim in though, so I just sat on a rock and dangled my feet in it instead. I watched the fish come up and check my toes out and laughed as I swished them around to scare ‘em off. I glanced over at one point and saw a rock start to move extremely slowly towards the water. At first I thought I’d finally lost my mind. No way could rocks move. Then I saw a head and four little limbs stickin’ out of it. Wow was I slow.

I got up and headed over to the turtle. He was pretty big, well, for a  _normal_ turtle anyways. Definitely the slowest movin’ relative I’d ever met. I smiled a little as I reached down to pick him up. The old guy slowly pulled his head back into his shell and started to bring his arms and legs in to.

“Don’t worry, dude…I’m on your side. Trust me, I wish I could pull into my shell right now too. Ya headin’ for the water? Yeah, I bet ya are. Wish I could go for a swim with ya.” I said, looking down at the shell I held. He looked like he was pretty old, but I wasn’t really too sure. Donnie woulda known. I sighed heavily as I set him down on the edge of the water.

“There ya go. From one turtle to another.” I joked, giving a little smile as I moved back to my seat on the rock. Sittin’ back down, I turned to watch him slowly poke his head back out, followed by his arms and legs, then  _slooooooooowly_ pull himself into the water. That had to be nice. Take your time gettin’ there cuz ya know it’s gonna be there. I was just about to look away when I saw him go zooming off through the water. Whoa! That little guy was quick in the water. I couldn’t help but wonder if he had been Hermes, Gwen’s old pet turtle.

I was sittin’ there thinkin’ about it for awhile before I heard some russlin’ in the bushes near by. Gettin’ up, I was about to go hide when Howie came runnin’ out carryin’ a piece of cloth in his mouth. I laughed a little as he came boundin’ over to me lookin’ proud of himself. That mutt was always findin’ things out here in the woods and bringin’ them over to me. I sat back down and held my hand out for it. When he got closer, I saw that it wasn’t just a piece of cloth, well, I mean, it  _was_ but…it looked like part of a sleeve to a shirt…and it had blood on it. I gulped quiet and took the sleeve from him.

“Thanks dude…” I said softly, quickly scannin’ the woods. That creepy dude had come back, I knew he had and suddenly my heart stopped. Howie and I were out there in the woods and Gwen was back at her house…alone. I seriously don’t think I’ve  _ever_ run so fast in my life. It was gettin’ closer to the time that she’d be leavin’ on her date and I had to make sure she was still ok.

By the time I came bustin’ through the backdoor, Gwen was standin’ in her entryway lookin’ out the front window. I skidded to a halt when I saw her. She’d tugged her hair up into a clip and had on a black tight T-shirt and well… _niiiice_ lookin’ black jeans. She really cleaned up nice. And it made me hate that Carson dude even more. I tried to play cool though when she turned and gave me a small smile.

“Hey, I was starting to think that you’d gotten lost or abducted by aliens or something.” I frowned and shook my head as I moved towards her. She had even put make up on. Which yeah sure made her look a little nicer, but, well I didn’t like it much. To me, she looked better without it. I got a bit closer to her and as I did I heard the car pull up. My heart started goin’ a mile a minute and I really had to stop myself from takin’ hold of her hand and not lettin’ go.

“Oh uh…that’s Carson, a um…a friend from work. We’re gonna go for some drinks. I’ll be back later.”

“Oh…ok. Do you want me to make dinner for when you get back?”

“No, that’s ok. I’ll see you tomorrow Mikey.” She said as she hurried out the door. I watched the door close and felt my shoulders fall. This was seriously unfair. I heard the car go squealin’ off down the driveway and really wanted to throw one of my chucks against the door. Maybe I still had a chance though. Maybe they really were just friends from work. That still didn’t make me feel much better about it all though. And what made me feel even worse was the nutso feelin’ that that guy wasn’t really right in the head. And I don’t mean like Raph isn’t right in the head, I mean like crazy stalker guy not right. I had to think of some way to tell Gwen how I felt. My dinner backfired so I couldn’t try that again…but maybe…

My eyes widened and I smiled. Turning, I ran up the stairs and signed onto her computer. Thank God I just happened to know about Donnie’s secrete bank account he had April open for him and I just  _happened_ to know all that personal stuff I needed to know in order to get things off line. I knew just what to get Gwen. One of the nights we’d been gettin’ to know each other she mentioned that she had two favorite kinds of roses; Sterling roses which were thornless and these really bright pink ones that always smelled sooooo good. Maybe if I got her a dozen of each, then she’d forget about that Carson dude and go out with me! Yeah…that’s what I was gonna do.

* * *

 

::Gwen’s POV::

I have to admit, I was scared out of my mind getting into that car with Carson. When I got out there, there was a bouquet of red roses sitting on my seat…and not the cheap kind from Sampson’s either, these were twelve long stem roses from a professional floral shop. I inwardly rolled my eyes when I saw them. I seriously hated just plain red roses…especially ones with the thorns still intact…like these were. What did he think this was, a date? Yeah right. I wouldn’t have dated him if he were the last thing on the face of this planet. Harsh, I know, but true none the less.

While he was driving, and talking about anything and everything that popped into his head it seemed, my mind kept drifting back to Mikey and the conversation I’d had with Angela. I hadn’t told her exactly everything about him but, I told her enough to try and get some advice about what to do about him. Though, she probably would have changed her advice had she have known he’s a turtle, not a human. What she basically told me though was to just act like I always do and to not be afraid to approach him first. Yeah right, the last time I approached a guy first I ended up with my heart being ripped to shreds before my eyes. I wasn’t about to go through that sort of pain again.

I hadn’t even realized it when we got to the bar that we were there. I felt kinda dumb when he opened the door for me and I nearly fell out. Thank God for seatbelts, huh? I followed him inside and was nearly deafened by the noise and cheers that erupted once we entered the room. I had the very distinct feeling that Carson was a regular in that bar and for some reason that frightened me pretty good. And of course we sat at what I assumed was his regular table, right in front of the speakers and right next to all the drunks at the bar. Granted, yeah, I was twenty-two and all but, I had a very low tolerance for drunks.

“Hey Cars! Long time no see, buddy! Where ya been hiding?” One of the aforementioned drunks called from his perch on the bar stool. It was obvious he’d been there for awhile, either that or the man just couldn’t hold his liquor because he nearly fell off his bar stool when he called out to Carson.

“Yeah! No kidding! No body ‘round to buy us rounds anymore. ‘Ey! ‘Ey is that Gwen!?” Another one called. Oh boy did I have a bad feeling about this place. Not to mention an even worse feeling about Carson. Did I even dare to ask what he’d told these people about me? I glanced at Carson who was smiling brightly and my feeling of dread just worsened even more.

“Yup, this is Gwen. Didn’t I tell you guys she was a beauty?” Never in my life did I feel sicker to my stomach than I did in that moment. Coming from any other guy I would have felt flattered and probably would have blushed, but this just weirded me out even more.

“Beauty?! Va-Va-Voom is more like it! Hey Sugar, how’d you get messed up with a loser like him, huh? What, did you lose a bet?”

“Yeah, really honey. Dump him and I can show ya a real good time. Hey Cars? How much it cost ya to take this one out? Babe, whatever he’s payin’ ya, I’ll double.” Even over the roar of the music I could hear their drunken remarks just as clear as if they were sitting next to me. Truthfully it was a good thing they weren’t sitting next to me other wise I would have socked both of them in the mouth. I seriously felt so sick to my stomach right then. And I really wanted to kick Carson in the groin.

I tried to ignore all the drunken slurs coming from either direction of me, and really tried hard to ignore all the pick up lines and come on’s from the idiots quickly surrounding us. A real gentleman would have put an end to all of the things being fired at me, but Carson just laughed and edged them on. Why did I ever agree to going out for a drink with him? I could have been at home watching movies with Howie or Mikey. The onslaught of comments continued to flood through my ears when suddenly I heard one voice I never wanted to hear again.

“Yeah sure…she looks good but trust me Carson…she’s like a limp rag doll in bed.” My eyes shot wide open as I heard jeers and cheers from around the table. Spinning my head around, I stared at the hazel green eyes of the devil himself. Ok so he wasn’t  _quite_ the devil, but close enough in my opinion.

“Oh yeah, that’s right, you two use to go out. What’s happenin’ Jake man?”

“Not much Carson, not much. So tell me…How often has she nagged  _you_ not to drink? Cuz that’s all she ever did with me.” I could feel my cheeks start to burn but it wasn’t from embarrassment, it was from anger. I’d been sitting there for nearly an hour already putting up with everything those jerks had been saying, but I wasn’t going to just sit there any longer and let the biggest idiot of them all berate me.

“She hasn’t. She’s a great girl.”

“I  _haven’t_ because I’m  _not_ your girlfriend. I never have been and I never will be. So I don’t know where you got your delusions but you better drop them and quick or else I’ll file sexual harassment on you so fast your head will spin.” I finally spat out. The words left my mouth so quickly that I hardly had time to even think about them first. I saw the look of surprise in Carson’s face before a fire erupted in them that reminded me of Jake in so many ways.

“Don’t mind her, boys…she’s just being modest. Plus, she’s had a guy friend from out of town staying with her so…she must not be too right in the head right now.”

“She never  _was_ right in the head, man. She’s a crazy bitch. Honestly though, I don’t see how she could possibly have a guy staying with her. She’s one of the biggest prudes I’ve ever met. Ya know it took me nearly four months to finally get her to give me some?”

“Oh fuck off, Jake. I can’t help it I have morals, ok?” I snipped before looking back at Carson once again. “And trust me; I’ve never been more in my right mind than I am right now. I am not, have not, will not be your girlfriend and Mikey has nothing to do with that decision.”

I could see the fire increasing in Carson’s eyes and my first thought was to run, run as far away as I could. Of course my mind ran faster than my feet which were at the moment frozen to the floor in fear. Gulping, I noticed that the roar of the bar had dampened some and all eyes had turned to us for the most part. Jake and Carson were starting to get a little too close to me for comfort and I was quickly beginning to feel as if my personal space was being violated.

“Who is this Mikey guy that’s staying with you Gwen? Huh? Who is he?! Is he your boyfriend? An internet lover who moved in with you? Tell me!” Carson ordered through clentched teeth. I wasn’t going to tell him shit! He didn’t need to know about Mikey. And plus I wasn’t sure what I  _could_ tell him.

“He’s not my boyfriend. Just like  _you’re_ not my boyfriend. He’s just a friend passing through. A friend who I never should have left in the first place.” I answered. Getting up, I quickly headed for the door and hailed a cab. Thank God he’d taken me into a town that actually  _had_ cabs other wise I would have been royally screwed. I knew I had to get out of there and quick. My only hope was this cabby was faster than Carson…and that Mikey was still at home in case Carson wanted to start any trouble.

* * *

 

::Donnie’s POV::

It’d been well over a month since Michelangelo’s disappearance. Boy was Master Splinter upset when he found out. Leo thought for sure he was going to disown us and toss us out into the city. It’s kind of funny really, to think that our so-called “Fearless Leader” could be so scared of not having Master Splinter’s blessings anymore. Normally it would have been Mikey who was scared of Sensei’s wrath. After a few hours of meditation though, Splinter seemed to mellow out and even told us that “Before a chick can learn to fly on their own, it must first leave its nest behind.” That didn’t really help Raph cool down any; in fact he still wanted to strangle Mikey once he got back. Though it was starting to look as though he never would.

We had searched the lair, sewers, even the entire city trying to find him after he left. All the luck we managed to get was he’d gone to the bus station. The only way we found that out though was because I’d been able to hack into security video and saw him. We just couldn’t find out where he went from there. He’d managed to get past all of my security cameras somehow and even managed to trick a motion camera into looking the opposite way as he climbed up a manhole. I smiled at that thought as I shook my head. The kid was a lot smarter than we ever gave him credit for.

Knowing that he’d been able to out smart my security system could have been why I wasn’t too worried about his safety. Leo and Raph on the other hand though. Leo would spend hours every night out searching the city in hopes of finding Mikey. It was starting to take its toll on the poor guy. After all, we’d never even gotten so much as an email from him saying he’s ok. Then again he probably knew if he had, I would have tracked him and Leo and Raphael would have come after him in a heart beat. And Raph, oy was he starting to get annoying. Constantly pacing the lair and sewers, and mumbling under his breath how he was going to kill Mike. But I knew the truth. I’d seen him on more than one occasion go into Mikey’s room, crawl up onto his loft bed and just sit there staring off into space.

It’s not that I hadn’t done everything I could think of to try and track Michelangelo, because I had. I tried tracing his shell-cell only I couldn’t get his signal since he had it turned off. I even tried infrared heat sensors to pick up remnants of his footprints on the streets. Nothing. I had finally pretty much given up. I knew that if Mike wanted us to find him, he’d get a hold of us somehow. Where ever he was, he must have been having a really good time. Of course, I forced myself not to think about the alternative reason for him not contacting us.

I’d been sitting in my lab working on some new gadgets for the Turtle Van and had my computer on to listen to some music. I was enjoying the sounds of Journey and singing along to ‘Can’t Fight This Feeling Anymore’ when I heard the beep beep of a new email coming through. Sighing, I set the gadget down, minimized my music player and opened my email. I had been expecting to see something from the computer service I had been working for, a newsletter or something of that sort; instead I saw a notice from my bank about a new purchase. When I had April set the account up for me, I made sure to have her get the feature to alert me when money was put into or taken out of it for whatever reason. A bit confused, I opened it and sure enough the statement said that I had charged eighty-one dollars and seventy-five cents to my account. My eyes went wide and I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw that. Eighty-one dollars and seventy-five cents!? And on what? FLOWERS! I didn’t order any flo…I suddenly stopped.

Only two other people knew my information, April and Mikey. And April had her own credit card so why would she need mine? This had to be the work of Mikey. It HAD to be! I quickly grabbed my hands-free phone and slipped it on. Looking up the florist online, I dialed their number and waited for an answer.

“Prescott Brothers Floral, this is Joey, how can I help you?”

“Hi, my name’s Don…I had my brother place an order for two dozen roses for me just a little while ago. I just wanted to make sure he got the address to send them to right. Uh…he probably actually placed the order under his name…either under Mikey or just Mike.” I said, hoping the guy on the other end wouldn’t question me too badly. I heard some clicking on the other end and then silence for a minute before Joey started talking again.

“Uhh…two dozen roses were ordered by an…looks like Angelo…first name Michael. That him?” I snickered a little and nodded even though the man on the other end couldn’t see me.

“Yeah, that’s him. Could you just read me off the name and address for their delivery. They’re for a very dear friend of mine and I want to make sure he got it right.”

“No problem Don. They’re being delivered to a Ms. Guenevere Masterson at 7789 Plowman Road Wenona, IL. That sound right to you?” I quickly scribbled it all down and nodded again.

“7789 Plowman Road, Wenona, IL…yup, that sure sounds about right. Thank you.” I quickly hung up with him before tossing my headset and running into the dojo. Leo and Raph had been sparring most of the morning and when I barged in, they stopped out of surprise.

“I found him!!!”


	12. Things Go Down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This is the chapter Howie dies in. He dies a hero though, but if you'd rather skip that, then skip the last four paragraphs. After Mikey leans in to kiss her, just change chapters.

::Mikey’s POV::

The night seemed to drag on forever after Gwen left. I even tried playing video games to pass the time but, it didn’t seem to work. In fact, it only seemed to make time go slower. So when games didn’t work, I went back upstairs to try and play ‘Warcraft’ only that didn’t help much either. Instead of paying attention to the screen, I kept lookin’ back at her bed. She didn’t even know I brought her up to bed. I had tried to go back downstairs to go to sleep but I made it half way down the stairs before turnin’ around and goin’ back up by her. I sat there watchin’ her sleep for awhile before I climbed up onto her loft bed and laid up there listenin’ to her sleep. I bet I laid there for close to four hours before I finally fell asleep for awhile.

I really wondered how much fun her and Carson were having. I bet it was more fun than she had here with me. I’d been sittin’ in front of her computer for awhile when I heard Howie start barkin’ down at the front door. Jumpin’ up and grabbin’ my nunchakus, I slid down the stairs and hid in the living room just as the front door flew open. If it weren’t for the fact Howie’s tail was waggin’ all over, I woulda jumped out to attack…good thing I didn’t. Gwen came storming in and slammed the door so hard I thought I heard the pictures next to it rattle. Somethin’ musta went wrong with her date. Sorry but I had to smile at that thought. I put my chucks away and stepped out.

“Hey Babe. What’s happenin’? Your date didn’t last long.” Whooooa I shouldn’t have said that cuz I got a major look of death from her. I gulped a little and gave a small smile. She didn’t seem very amused.

“It was  _not_ a date. I don’t know why everyone seems to think that I’m dating Carson but I’m not! He’s a pig! Just like Jake was…I hate men!” She was pissed and truthfully I was kinda hurt by that. I’d never done anything to be mean to her, at least not that I knew of. I wanted to object to that but never got a chance.

“He had been going around telling all his sick, perverted, lonely, jackass friends at the bar that I was his girlfriend! So all of those drunken idiots were hitting on me the whole time and it was starting to get on my nerves. And then…then….oh this is funny! Then Jake the Snake shows up and tried to convince them all that I’m some crazy bitch who wouldn’t sleep with him on the first date!  _THEN_ to top it all off, he lied to them all saying it took him four months to get me to sleep with him! I never slept with him! I’ve never slept with anyone before! But I definitely wouldn’t ever sleep with  _those two_ ignoramuses! I have never been so humiliated in my life! I wish I could just—“ I dunno what she was about to say but I did know that I was  _not_ at all happy to hear about anything that went on at whatever bar they ended up going to. I was so mad that I actually saw red. Now I knew how Raph felt when he was mad. I wanted to kill Carson. Lucky for me, I was about to get my chance at showin’ him just how pissed a ninja turtle could get when someone mistreats their friends.

A car came flyin’ up her driveway as she was ventin’ and I quickly turned to check it out through a window. It had to be Carson. Whoever they were sure looked pissed which made things all the better for me. I didn’t like havin’ to kick someone’s ass when they aren’t mad…it’s not as much fun for me. I quickly glanced back at Gwen who suddenly looked just about as green as I am which ya know, kinda told me no good could come from this person showin’ up. Shovin’ her into the living room, I waited for a second until the door flew open again and the idiot came stormin’ in. Ya shoulda seen the look on his face when he saw me, it was seriously priceless.

“Who the fuck are you?”

“I’m Mikey…don’t bother sayin’ who you are, cuz I don’t care. All I know is, you hurt Gwen, an’ now you’re gonna pay.” I growled. It hit me then that Gwen had never seen me mad. Boy was she in for a big surprise if this dork was stupid enough to try and fight me. Sure he mighta been about a foot taller than me, but what else was new? I was really gonna enjoy this. I just hoped it didn’t turn out to be as boring as our sparring matches back home. Those got old real fast. The guy I guessed to be Carson glared at me and then at Gwen behind me which, ya know, only made me even more mad.

“This  **_freak_ ** is the ‘friend’ who’s been staying with you? Jake was right, you are a crazy sick bitch. Messing around on me with a giant talking frog.”

Giant, talking, frog? This guy must notta went to school and passed his science classes. I stood up a little straighter and tilted my head as I raised an eye ridge at him. He was dumber than he looked. Turnin’ kinda side ways, I pointed to my shell.

“Uhhh…excuse me dude? I happen to know four awesome giant talkin’ frogs and I look nothin’ like ‘em! I’m a turtle…of the mutant ninja persuasion.” That didn’t seem to matter to this guy since before I could hardly even finish he was rushin’ at me. What a dork. I jumped outta the way just in time to grab his arm and swing him around into a wall. I heard Gwen yelp a little and hoped I didn’t accidentally hurt her as I was doin’ it. I had to get this fight someplace away from her, and fast. Yankin’ him back from the wall, I caught his shirt and shoved him against the door.

“Look dude, you don’t wanna fight me. Even without my brothers I could still kick your tail. So why don’t you just go away, and leave Gwen alone?” Hey, ya can’t blame a guy for tryin’ to be nice, right? At least I was givin’ him a chance to leave before I really did some damage. Too bad he still didn’t get the hint. He was probably too mad to see straight. Kinda reminded me of Shred-Head in the way that he hated me for no reason, I guess.

“I’m not leaving without Gwen. She’s my girl and not you and not anyone else is going to keep me from her.” He was startin’ to sound like one of those demon guys on horror movies, the ones who have been taken over by evil spirits and then their heads do 360 spins. “You belong to me, Gwen! You know it’s true!”

“Whoa, dude, if you’re gonna be a villain at least be original. Lay off the ‘Star Wars’ movies, ok?” Ok, so they guy couldn’t take a joke. I dunno how, but somehow he got me to stumble backwards and almost lose my balance. Musta thought that since I’m a turtle if I fell on my back I wouldn’t be able to get up. What part of ‘ninja’ didn’t he understand? Whippin’ around, I ducked down and slid my leg out to trip him before he could get close to Gwen who was now pretty much cryin’ it sounded like. I didn’t wanna hurt Gwen and I sure as Hell didn’t want this moron hurtin’ her either.

“Go to the basement, Gwen. Get outta here. I got this covered.” I called as I slammed my elbow into Carson’s back to level him. I watched as she jumped over my legs and went running for the kitchen. I heard the basement door slam closed and pulled Carson back up off the floor. We were both pissed and I gotta say if my bro’s coulda seen me…they probably wouldn’t have believed it was me fightin’. Not even in our battles with the Foot and Shred-Head did I act and look as serious as I did then. I couldn’t let this dirt bag hurt Gwen.

He threw a few wayward punches at me that I easily ducked and was able to kick him square in the stomach a couple of times. I could hear Howie barking at the backdoor and tried to tune him out as Carson started blindly throwing kicks and punches at me. Whipping out my chucks, I managed to whack him upside the head good and do some pretty nasty damage to one of his arms. I heard the wood connect with his forearm and then bone breaking so I knew it had to hurt. He swore out loud and came rushing at me like he was gonna tackle me. Huh, yeah right. I’d grown up with sports nut Raphael, any tackle this guy was plannin’ on doin’ wasn’t gonna take me down. Spinning quickly, I brought my chucks down across his back, layin’ him flat on the floor.

Smirking, I placed my foot on his back to keep him down even though I pretty much knew he was down for the count. Lookin’ back up, I saw Gwen standin’ in the doorway of the kitchen, clutchin’ the phone and lookin’ pretty damn pale. I put my nunchakus away and slowly moved over to her. I could tell she was shakin’ and I carefully pulled her into my arms. I felt her tears roll down my plastron and it nearly broke my heart to feel her shakin’ so bad.

“It’s ok, Gwen…I told ya I’d take care of him. Ya don’t gotta worry…I won’t let anything bad happen to you. I swear.” I whispered, holdin’ onto her and runnin’ my fingers thru her hair to try and calm her down. Hey, why not? It works in the movies right? Of course, then again, I should have seen enough movies to know that ya can’t take the bad guy down the first time.

* * *

 

::Gwen’s POV::

I’d been so scared hiding down in the basement. I could hear them both fighting and getting slammed into things, and could hear Howie going nuts outside. I didn’t want to see either one of them get hurt, but I especially didn’t want to see Mikey get hurt. I know I wasn’t down there long, but to me it felt as if it were a lifetime. I had grabbed the phone on my way down the stairs and boy was I glad that I did. I had managed to call the police and tell them that someone had broken into my house and I needed help. Unfortunately, the police were out quite a ways and it would take them a little while to get here.

Daring to brave it, I slowly opened the door and watched as Mikey whirled his nunchakus around so fast they weren’t much more than blur to me and bring them down hard and fast on Carson’s arm and then back. I knew Carson had seen me and that’s why he was charging at Mikey. I think he figured if he took Mikey down he could grab me and that thought scared the snot out of me royally. I’d never seen Mikey look so angry and ready to kill. At that moment, I wasn’t sure who I was more afraid of, Carson or Mikey. But when I felt him wrap his arms around me and pull me in close, I knew it was Carson who was the scarier of the two.

Trembling in his arms, I pressed my face against his chest and began to sob. I could hear his voice trying to calm me down, but the words were lost to me. I just wanted everything to be over. I wanted the cops to get there and arrest Carson. I wanted to be held in Mikey’s arms for the rest of the night and hear him tell me everything was going to be alright. I wanted to know I was safe, that he was ok, that he wasn’t going to leave me alone. I could feel him running his hand down my hair and I pulled back to look at him with tearstained cheeks. I honestly think that was the first time I’d ever let a guy see me cry. Instead of laughing at me for being such a coward though, he smiled and gently brushed his thumbs over my cheeks to dry them. I stood there, still trying to force myself not to cry, looking into his eyes and nearly getting lost in them. Howie was still barking and jumping against the screen door but I hardly noticed as I felt myself getting drawn in closer to Mikey. I could feel his head start to dip down closer to mine also, and felt his warm breath brush against my lips.

My eyes were almost closed when I saw Carson out of the corner of my eye start to get up and pull a gun from his pants pocket. Turning my head, I felt as if things were moving in slow motion suddenly. I felt myself scream and Mikey push me out of the way before I heard the shot ring out. I could see Mikey stumble a little as he lunged towards Carson to try and get the gun away. Blood was running down his arm and I could hear Carson crying out in pain before another shot went off. Then silence. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breath. I saw the hole in the screen door and the splintered shards of wood lying around in front of it and suddenly heard a choked up scream escape my lips. Stumbling to my feet, I fell against the wall to the living room and saw Mikey kneeling down next to Howie. A large puddle of blood was surrounding them and I could hear Howie whimpering lamely in Mikey’s arms.

“You’re gonna be ok buddy…you’re gonna be ok…just hang in there….” I heard Mike whisper, his own voice tight with emotion as he gently stroked Howie’s head and ears. I could see the thick red liquid gushing from the wound in his chest even though Mikey had tried to use his bandana to stop the bleeding. Tears were in his eyes as he looked down at my beloved Howser. I felt my chest tighten in so much pain that I fell to the floor in sobs so great they shook my whole body.

I saw Mikey gently lay Howie down after his whimpering had stopped and slowly stood up. He didn’t say a word to me as he moved past me and into the kitchen. Grabbing a new roll of paper towels, he wrapped some around his arm before quickly cleaning up his foot prints. Tucking them into his belt, he kissed my head so gently I wasn’t sure it’d really happened.

“I…I’m sorry Gwen…I tried…” He whispered. All I could do was sob and stare at my beautiful Howie lying on the floor motionless. I heard the basement door close just as the police arrived. Anything after that…I can’t remember.


	13. Bad Day

::Mikey's POV::

I ended up stayin’ in Gwen’s basement for awhile, at least until I heard the police leave. When I knew they were gone, I came back out and found Gwen staring down at the floor blankly. She looked like she was gonna be sick. I frowned a little and gently took her arm. Takin’ her outside was a good idea cuz we weren’t out there more than two minutes before whatever was in her stomach decided to make its grand re-entrance. Not exactly my idea of a good time but, I stayed out there with her anyways just so she didn’t hafta be alone, ya know? I’d never had a pet before, well, aside from a pet rock I had when I was younger. Rocky…Raph had been really mean as a kid. I made him mad somehow so he went and stole Rocky and found one of Donnie’s hammers to smash him into little pieces before my eyes. So I knew how bad it hurt to lose your loyal pet right in front of your face and you can’t do anything about it. I didn’t want Gwen to try and deal with this one her own.

I tried my best to comfort her out there in the backyard, but all she did was cry and heave for awhile. Finally though, I was able to calm her down enough to sit on the back steps while I went in and cleaned up the mess in the living room. It was a dirty job, but somebody had to do it—and I wasn’t about to make Gwen do it. Once I got things cleaned up and at least tried to get what little bit of blood seeped into the carpet cleaned out or at least hidden from her view, I went back out to her. She looked so lost and bewildered now, like her only friend had left her. In a way I knew the feeling, but then again I was kind of upset by that. I mean, I was still there. I was her friend. But…then again…Howie had been there for her before I was.

Frownin’ a little, I helped her stand back up and took her back into the house. She seemed like she was in shock cuz she just stared straight ahead of her while I took her back upstairs. When I got her to her room she just laid down on the futon and curled up. I couldn’t leave her like that. I could hear her crying again and saw her shoulders shakin’. Puttin’ my eye ridges together, I frowned a little as I carefully laid down next to her. The minute I did, she rolled over and clutched to me like there was no tomorrow. Not that I was complainin’ but ya know, after awhile it started gettin’ a little hard to breathe. Once she finally cried herself to sleep, her grip loosened a little, but I still just laid there holdin’ her.

I really wanted to tell her that everything was gonna be ok, that I wasn’t gonna let anything bad happen to her ever again, and that I loved her, but I kinda figured then wasn’t the best time to do it. So I just laid there thinkin’ about when would be the best time to do it. No time like the present huh? I finally decided to bite the bullet and just do it the next day. I just hoped she wouldn’t flip out on me.

When I woke up the next morning, I yawned and stretched before I realized that I was alone on the futon. My eyes went wide and I almost fell off the bed. Gwen wasn’t upstairs anymore, that meant she was downstairs. Man I hoped she hadn’t found anything that would send her further into shock. I got up and headed downstairs. Well she wasn’t in the living room which was good. That’s when I heard dishes clatterin’ in the kitchen. She was making breakfast? In the month or so I’d been there with her, she never made breakfast that wasn’t a bowl of cereal.

“Uh…hey babe. What’cha doin’?” I asked softly, stepping into the kitchen slowly. She had her back to me and had tugged her hair up into a messy ball on her head. Turning, she gave me a sad smile before she shrugged.

“Makin’ breakfast. I uh…I needed something to do. And you were still asleep so…I figured I’d make breakfast.”

“Oh, ok. What’cha makin’?”

“Um…” she paused and sniffled before she wiped her eyes and looked back at the stove. “Scrambled eggs and toast.” I nodded and stepped up next to her. Gathering all the courage I had in me, I reached out and gave her a gentle hug. She seemed to like that, I mean, she smiled and all and gave me a hug back. A bounce of hope went through me when I realized I might actually have a chance now with her. But, I wasn’t gonna tell her over breakfast. I’d never seen it done in the movies so I wasn’t sure if it would actually work or not. Dinner was always the best bet. Pullin’ back, I went to the cupboard she kept her plates in and pulled two down.

I could tell she was trying to fight back the urge to cry and that keeping herself busy was the only way to help with that. I guess she figured if she kept her mind busy it wouldn’t have time to slow down and remember what happened the day before and remember that she’d lost Howie. I felt my own chest tighten at rememberin’ that. He was an awesome dog. Reminded me a lot of me. Hyper and crazy when he wanted to be but also extremely lazy other times. No wonder me and him got along so great together. I set the plates down on the counter and got the milk out of the fridge. Lookin’ down next to the fridge, I noticed that Howie’s food and water bowls were gone. Frownin’ a little, I shook my head and set the milk down. ‘Out of sight, out of mind’ that’s what Don always used to say. Looked like Gwen followed by that rule too.

Once we finished breakfast, I helped her do up the dishes and followed her out into the living room. I wasn’t sure what she was gonna do until I saw her flop down onto the couch and turn the TV on. I needed to get her out of the house for awhile. I knew if she sat there watchin’ TV she’d end up cryin’ again, and I didn’t want to see her cry anymore. Seein’ her cry was almost as heartbreakin’ as Leo stealin’ the last slice of pizza right out from under my nose. Uh…well…ok…so maybe her cryin’ was a little more heartbreakin’ than that but, well, you get the point. Pickin’ my chucks up off the floor where I’d tossed ‘em the night before, I took her by the hand.

“C’mon. Let’s go outside for awhile. It’s nice out. We could both use the fresh air.” I said, leadin’ her out the front door. Amazin’ly enough she didn’t put up much of a fight, especially when I pulled her out into a clearin’ in the woods I’d use to practice in. Finally lettin’ go of her hand, I smiled a little at her.

“Here…I wanna teach ya how to defend yourself. Ya know, in case ya ever need it.” I handed her my nunchakus and couldn’t help but smile a little when she looked at them like they were somethin’ outta an Alien movie. Guess I really had to start at the top with her. That was fine, I didn’t mind. Heh, I liked it actually. It’s crazy how much I really did know about ninjitsu and fighting and stuff. Leon woulda been proud of me if he’d seen me teaching her basic defense. And Raph an’ Don woulda been wonderin’ who I was and what I’d done to their little brother. Ya know, it wasn’t until just then that I realized how much bein’ away from my bro’s actually made me act more grown up. It’s like, it just hit me that I didn’t have anyone to back me up if I needed it; I had to take care of myself. I never knew bein’ a grown up was such a bummer. But yet, it was also pretty fun too.

We stood out in the clearing for hours, me teachin’ her little things and then her usin’ those little things to kick my tail with. Most times I let her win, but there were a few times towards the end where I was really surprised by how fast she’d caught on and was beaten fair an’ square. Good thing the bro’s weren’t around, they’da been laughin’ at me for bein’ beaten by a girl. I didn’t care though. It got her mind off of Howie an’ I had to say that she looked really good with her hair fallin’ down out of its ponytail and sweat on her face and neck. When she finally beat me the last time, I fell to the ground panting with my eyes closed.

“Ok…I think…you got…the basic gist…of it…now.” I panted, tryin hard catch my breath. I heard her give a small laugh as she flopped down onto the beaten down grass next to me. Opening my eyes, I slowly turned my head and smiled at her. She was sittin’ there with her knees pulled up to her chest and trying to make it seem like she wasn’t just as out of breath as I was, but I knew she was. The sun was startin’ to set and it sent little rays of it’s remainin’ light through the leaves and trees and made it look like she was an angel from where I was lyin’. I watched as she shoved her hair off her face and looked down at me smiling. I could still see the sadness in her eyes, but it was no where near as bad as it had been earlier in the day.

“Thanks…Mikey. I needed this.” She chuckled as she sucked in a big gulp of air and let it out slowly again. I slowly shoved myself up so I was sittin’ next to her and smiled back at her.

“No problem. Now…if anyone ever tries ta mess with you again…you can kick their shells.” She laughed again and leaned against my shoulder for a minute before pullin’ back. I loved makin’ her laugh. She had such a great laugh. If I could, I woulda spent the rest of my life tryin’ to make her laugh. We sat there silently for a few minutes before I finally stood up and held my hand out to her.

“C’mon, I’m starvin’!” I exclaimed suddenly attacked with the deep need for some deep dish action. Pullin’ her to her feet, I did reverse of before and dragged her back to the house, this time with her laughin’ the whole way. I knew that either while we were eatin’ or just after wards that I was gonna tell her. I had to tell her. It was drivin’ me crazy not bein’ able to say how I felt. I ordered her flowers last night, but the website said it would take a couple of days for delivery. Well, I couldn’t wait that long. Guess she’d just get them after she found out. And if she was freaked out by me tellin’ her…then she could throw them out. But I hoped she wouldn’t do that for the CD I’d made for her too.

I’d actually made the CD a couple weeks ago to listen to while she was at work since my iPod® went dead and I didn’t have any way to charge it. I wasn’t sure what songs she liked but I had the feeling that if I just threw some different ones on there that all were sayin’ the things I wanted, then it wouldn’t matter. Don and Leo would prob’ly call me a hopeless romantic…Raph would just call me hopeless. Heh, oh well, they weren’t around so they never had to know about it.

When Gwen and I got back into her house, we both headed straight for the kitchen. It was nice to know we were both thinkin’ the same thing when we reached into the freezer to pull out a frozen pizza. I was startin’ to feel like I was trapped in a romantic comedy. Which I guessed was a good thing cuz at the end of those movies the guy and girl always got together. They always had happy endings. Gwen pulled her hand back and smiled as she sat down on the chair.

“Go for it. Pick which ever one you want. I don’t care.” She said, resting her arms on the table. I nodded and decided to go with the supreme she had sitting in there. Mmmm…dude did that pizza look good. I heard her laugh a little as I got the oven ready and popped the pizza in. Turnin’ around, I gave a kind of shy smile and shrugged.

“Hey, I told ya I was hungry.”

“I don’t doubt it.”

“Hey, uh…G-Gwen? Um…could I uh…that is…I mean…um…” I stammered. I wanted to stop my mouth from moving, but heh, it never listened to me before and it wasn’t about to start now. I saw her give me a confused look as I struggled to think of something else to say other than ‘can I tell you that I love you?’ but nothin’ was coming to my brain.

“What’s up, Mikey?”

“Uh…well…um…ya see, it’s like this. Um…I uh…really like you Gwen. I mean, like, you’re the most beautiful ch-uh…gir—errr….you’re really pretty. And um…what I guess I’m really trying to say is…um…” I trailed off as I rubbed the back of my neck nervously. I couldn’t look at her, that woulda only made things harder, but I could sure feel her starin’ at me like I suddenly grew another head or something. Gulping, I found a sudden interest in the floor. Ya know, I never noticed how nice an’ clean her kitchen floor was! It was nice! I had to stop stallin’. Takin’ a deep breath, I heard the words leavin’ my mouth and knew there was no way to take ‘em back. “I love you.”

It felt like the world suddenly stood still and minutes turned into hours. I didn’t want to look at her, actually, I wished I coulda slid into my shell and hide, especially when I heard her start laughing. But it wasn’t the playful laughter I’d heard earlier, this sounded almost scared. Aw man did I screw up. Slowly lookin’ up at her, she was starin’ at me in disbelief and still laughin’ nervously. What was there to be nervous about? I almost got to kiss her the night before and she didn’t seem nervous about that! I felt my eye ridges pull together as I straightened up a little.

“You…l-love me? Oh boy…now I’ve heard it all.” She laughed, standing up and pacin’ the kitchen. I was so confused.

“Yeah, so? What’s so funny about it? I do.” She stopped pacin’ and turned to look at me. Maybe I shoulda waited a little while longer before I said anything.

“You’re a turtle! I’m a human…the two just…they just don’t…” I suddenly felt myself start to get upset by her reaction. Ok, so it wasn’t so much her reaction as it was her stupid reasonin’ for why it was funny that I just laid my heart out there for her to stomp on.

“So I’m a turtle? So what? It’s true, I do love you.”

“No, Mikey, you don’t, trust me. You just think you do because you’ve lived your whole life with four other guys in the sewers of New York. I’m just the first girl to take you in. You don’t love me. You can’t love me! It’s against the laws of nature!” She exclaimed, her arms were clamped on her hips. I was really startin’ to get mad. I’d just saved her life and this was how she was thankin’ me?

“So what? I’m good enough to be your friend but not enough to love you, is that? So what I look like a turtle? Yeah, I got a carapace an’ a plastron an’ three fingers an’ two toes, big deal? In case ya haven’t noticed dudette but, I bleed just like you do. It’s red, just like yours. I can eat, sleep, breath, think, walk, talk, an’ act just like a human! The only thing not human about me is the way I look.” Ok, so I was a little madder than I had thought. I had a right to be though, right? I grabbed her hand and put it against my plastron. Holdin’ her by the wrist, I kept her hand there for a minute.

“Feel that? It’s a heartbeat. Just like yours. An’ ya know what? I can feel just like you too.” I muttered, lettin’ go of her hand. I’d seriously felt like she’d just stabbed me in the heart. The worst part was, she didn’t seem to care. She just kept sayin’ I couldn’t love her and it was wrong on so many levels cuz I was a turtle. I think I finally knew what Raph meant when he’d say he always saw red when he’d get mad. I was startin’ to agree. Giving her a cold glare, I turned and started for the door.

“Never mind…forget it…you’re right…it’s stupid for me to think a freak like me could ever love a beautiful princess like you.” I growled, slammin’ the door on my way out. Ya know, I hafta admit, if I knew what was out there waitin’ for me, I wouldn’t have walked out. Or at least not walked out on such bad terms.

* * *

 

“Are you guys sure Michelangelo is here?”

“Of course we are. This is the address the floral shop gave me and Mikey used my info under his name to order the flowers. Why wouldn’t he be here?”

“He bought flowers? You didn’t tell me he bought someone flowers! Guys! What if he’s got a girl!?” April looked at her friends in disbelief as they sat in the woods watching Gwen’s house. Donatello and his brothers looked at her with knitted eye ridges while Casey Jones rolls his eyes and turns away.

“C’mon…the guy has the mentality of a five year old—“

“And you have one of a seven year old and yet you somehow for some strange reason, got me.” She snipped at Casey’s back before looking back down at the three turtles in front of her.

“Are you guys sure you want to do this? I mean, what if he’s safe and sound and happy? You don’t want to take him away from all of that, do you?”

“Casey’s right. Michelangelo isn’t mature enough to be out here on his own.” Leonardo answered calmly, his arms crossed over his plastron as he continued to eye the house. April rolled her eyes and crossed her arms as she went to lean against a tree.

The day before, Leonardo and his brothers had come rushing into her and Casey’s apartment telling them they had to drive them to Illinois. They’d been so happy that they finally managed to track down their little brother, that April didn’t ask any questions. She merely grabbed her keys and Casey’s wallet and went running out with the others. They had driven all day and night and all of the next day to get there and finally find Gwen’s house. And now that they were there, April was starting to have second thoughts about it all. Finally sighing, she shoved herself up off the tree and started back down the path.

“You boys have fun playing spies and turtlenappers. I’m going back to the van. Call me if you need me.” She called over her shoulder. The four guys she left behind merely waved a hand back at her. They’d only been sitting there a minutes more before Mikey emerged from the back door.

“There he is!” Casey exclaimed, trying to crawl over the three brothers to get him. Raphael and Leonardo stopped him however and clamped their hands over his mouth.

“We have to be quiet about this. Whoever’s got him may have look outs.” Leo answered as he slowly let go and disappeared into the darkened woods. Donnie and Casey shrugged to one another before following him and Raph. They could see Mikey muttering to himself and kicked at random things on the ground as he came closer and closer to the woods. Their plan was to rescue him and then as quickly as they could, get him back to the van and take off before anyone noticed. He didn’t seem at all happy as he stepped foot into the protective darkness of the dense trees. Nodding to Raph and Donnie, the three turtles rushed their little brother and clamped their hands over his mouth to keep him from crying out.

“It’s ok, Mikey. We’re here to rescue you. C’mon.” Donatello said soothingly, using his pacifist side to try and talk things out as they quickly moved him off towards the van.

“Look at dis! Dey shot him! Looks like dey missed.” Raph muttered, shaking his head as he looked down at the wound on Mikey’s arm as he struggled to get free from them. His voice muffled by their hands, he fought against them.

“It’s just us Mikey, your bro’s. You’re ok. We’re here to take you home.”

“Sensei has been worried about you, Michelangelo, so have we.”

“Yeah…an’ when we get ya home…I’m gonna kill ya!”

“Ey, Raph, take it easy on the guy. He doesn’t look too good.” Casey said, looking between Mikey and his brothers before they reached the van. April was curled up in the front passenger set sleeping as they opened the back door and got Mike in. Sitting up quickly, she rubbed her eyes and glanced into the back as Casey hopped into the driver’s seat and peeled off down the country road heading back towards New York City. Finally tearing himself away from his brothers’ grasps, he glared hard at them.

“What are you guys doin’ here? And what are you doin’?” He questioned, rubbing his arm as he looked between them all.

“We told you. We’re saving you and bringing you back home.” Leo answered, crossing his arms over his chest, a natural and not at all surprising pose for him to strike. Mikey wasn’t sure what to feel right then. He’d been upset that Gwen had reacted so poorly to his confession, but he still didn’t want to leave her, especially to be turtlenapped by his own brothers who had basically said they didn’t want him anymore anyways. Shaking his head, he frowns and just leans back against the side of the van. It was no use to argue with them. He wouldn’t win and he knew it. Sighing heavily, he just sat there as his brothers and April barraged him with questions.

* * *

 

::Gwen’s POV::  
I had been so shocked and confused when Mikey told me that he loved me. Honestly, I had been flattered by the thought, so I really don’t know why I reacted the way I did. I supposed it was because I had just lost Howie and nearly my life the night before. I hadn’t meant to hurt Mikey’s feelings by saying it was against the laws of nature for him to love me. Who was I to judge what was and wasn’t right in nature?

I felt horrible for treating Mikey the way I had. He had after all saved my life, and had tried his hardest to save Howie. And I had to admit that I had found myself also starting to fall for him. At least a little anyways. Sighing, I opened the back door and stepped out into the yard. When I didn’t see him out there, I hesitantly wandered into the woods. I wasn’t big on being in the woods after dark to begin with, and after everything that happened the night before, I was even less keen on it.

“Mikey? Mikey listen...I’m sorry. Come back inside and we’ll talk…ok?” I called, my arms folded over my chest to try and keep the creepy feelings of the woods away. Nothing. The only answers I heard were birds…and they scared me more than the woods did. Gulping, I shrugged to myself and headed back inside, sure that he’d be back later and I’d talk to him then. Looking around my empty house sadly, I felt a lump form in my throat as I picked up his teddy bear and headed back up the stairs to my room. I’d just talk to him in the morning…


	14. Disappointments

::Gwen’s POV::

When I woke up the next morning I had expected to find Mikey roaming around downstairs, possibly making breakfast or even playing some video games. I got out of bed and slowly shuffled down the stairs. It was strange and lonely without Howie there to greet me and it brought a stabbing pain to my chest. He was gone. He wasn’t coming back. He had given his life to save me and Mikey. I always knew that dog had the heart of a hero. I had to seriously fight back the urge to cry as I moved through the living room and into the kitchen. Mikey wasn’t there. A sudden wash of panic over took me. If he wasn’t inside then he had to be outside. Right?

Not even bothering with my shoes, I bolted out the backdoor. Scanning the yard closely, I headed for the woods again thinking maybe he’d gone to the clearing to practice. Nothing. Not even any fresh footprints. Fear and concern gnawed at the pit of my stomach as guilt ran through me. What if something had happened to him? What if he’d gotten lost or hurt? Or worst yet…what if he’d been nabbed by a stranger or the police? What if he’d been sold to a circus as a side show?! Or to scientists and…horrible scenarios started playing out in my mind. I had to find him. But I couldn’t call the police. That’d be a strange conversation.

_“Yes I’d like to report a missing person…his name? Michelangelo but he mostly answers to Mikey…what’s he look like? Uhhh…well…he’s about five foot five, big blue eyes and um…ya ever seen a creek turtle? Looks kinda like that…how do I mean? Um well…see he kinda is a turtle…hello?”_

Terrified, I ran through the woods calling out for him as loud as I could. It was no use though, I couldn’t find him anywhere. Finally falling down next to the stream, I pressed myself to one of the big flat rocks and started to cry. In just a matter of days I’d managed to lose two of the most important things in my life. Pain and guilt ate away at me until I was sobbing uncontrollably. I kept telling myself neither one them were gone, that I needed to get myself up and together and get back to the house before Mikey began to worry. Sad thing is...I actually believed myself. Gads I can be so gullible sometimes.

I forced my legs to get up off the ground and for my body to knock off the tears and get my breathing back in check before I hurried back to the house, cursing at the pain that was shooting through my feet the whole way. Like a fool, every step I took my heart lifted thinking Mikey and Howie would be back home waiting for me.  _He’s gotta be there, he’s gotta. He’s gonna be there, he gonna!_ At least that’s what my heart kept telling my head. It was a nice thought until I got home again and found it was still completely empty. That’s when I knew Mikey wasn’t coming back. Even though all his things were still there, deep in my heart I knew I’d lost him.

Everywhere I looked I saw Mikey and Howie playing or watching TV. In a way, I supposed it was almost poetic justice. He’d come into my life in a mystery and now he’d left the same way. I was used to people leaving my life, it’d happen to me enough times throughout my life that it was really nothing new—but that didn’t mean it didn’t still hurt whenever it happened. Sniffling, I quickly wiped my eyes and pressed my lips together in a thin tight line. Time to move on. No sense dwelling on the past or things that can’t be changed. I’d already hidden Howie’s bowls from myself so I didn’t have to keep seeing them and remembering how badly I missed him. Time to do the same with Mikey’s things.

In a strange almost panicking way, I swept through the house gathering up anything and everything that was Mike’s. I had to get it out of my line of sight. I couldn’t handle it. Stuffing everything into my hall closet, I quickly slammed and locked the door. I felt like my world was crumbling around me. Like everything I had ever held important or dear to me was being taken away piece by piece until I was left with nothing. Moving slowly back into the living room, I sat down on my chair next to the window and felt more hot salty tears roll down my cheeks. I had always hated crying, now I hated it even more.

I don’t know how long I sat in that chair, watching the driveway, waiting to see Mikey come bounding up it with his big child-like grin. He loved going for walks in the forest and would always come back with something to show me. Most times it was things I’d already known about, but I knew he’d probably never really had a chance to explore like that so I’d humor him and let him explain it to me in his own silly way. He took me out with him once and showed me something I honestly had never seen before. He had managed to find a little burrow that held six or seven eggs in it.

_“Look. See those claw marks? That’s from a turtle. These are turtle eggs. The mom turtle comes up out of the water and digs down into the ground to lay her eggs and then covers them up and hopes no bigger, meaner animals come and eat her babies. She doesn’t stick around to protect them though, she goes back into the water and the little ones learn right off the bat, it’s either sink or swim.” He said, smiling proudly as he pointed down at the mud covered eggs._

_“Wow. That’s pretty neat. I’ve never seen turtle eggs before. How do you know all this?”_

_“My brother Donnie taught me. He’s a genius. He said this didn’t happen with us though cuz we were pet shop turtles so we came from like, a turtle farm or something weird like that.”_

I felt my breathing catch as I saw a car come into view. Visions of Carson coming back to finish what he had started began flashing before my eyes and after hearing myself give a panicked yelp, I ran for my baseball bat next to the door and waited for the attack. Only it never came. The only thing I heard were footsteps approaching and a knock on the door. It certainly didn’t sound menacing. Keeping the bat hidden behind the door, I slowly opened it a crack to peek out. A guy not much older than me was standing on my porch dressed in a uniform. Under any normal circumstances I would have instantly been attracted to him…what can I say? I’ll admit to being an ambulance chaser. There’s just something about men in uniforms that’s just…yeah. Unfortunately, this wasn’t normal circumstances. Opening the door a little wider, the police officer offered me a polite smile and tipped his hat.

“Evening, ma’am. Are you Guenevere Masterson?” My heart instantly lept into my throat. Had they found Mikey? Gulping my heart back into place, I nodded dumbly. Perfect first impression, huh?

“My name’s Sgt. DeWight. I was hoping I could ask you a few questions about your home intrusion a couple days ago. Did you know the intruder, Carson Pressman?”

“Um…y-yeah. He works at the same grocery store as me.”

“I see. Did you have a relationship with him?” He must have thought I was nuts when I started laughing. I wasn’t sure if I was laughing cuz that was funny or because my emotions were just so screwed up that they didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Shaking my head, I put a hand over my mouth as my eyes teared over again.

“No…no not at all. In fact I’d only talked to him maybe a half a dozen times since I started working there. Our departments are the entire length of the store apart so really the only time we’d talk was a quick hello on my way past or if we just happened to be in the break room at the same time.” I had no clue why he would have thought I was in a relationship with Carson, that was seriously the stupidest thing I’d heard in a long time. Carson was not my type at all, plus, after everything that just went on, he’s way too damn creepy for me! Sgt. DeWight nodded and opened up the envelope in his hand to pull out some photos. I recognized the style and paper instantly; it was the same kind I used when I developed my own photographs in my dark room down in the basement.

“Were you aware, then, that he had been photographing you for some time now? We confiscated these from his car and home.” He said, turning the photos around to show me. I felt my stomach churn and nearly lost my dinner all over the place when I slowly reached out to take the pictures. There were one’s of me on the computer, watching TV, washing the dishes, out playing with Howser, taking care of my garden, even some of me changing and in the bathroom. I was seriously sick to my stomach and completely violated. He was creepier than I ever thought possible.

“Oh…God….” I heard my voice say softly as I saw a picture of me and Angela sitting in the living room watching movies and hidden in the shadows by the bushes I could just barely make out the shape of Mikey and his eyes, looking directly at the camera. He’d known I was being watched? If he knew, why didn’t he ever say anything? Had he been in on it? Oh I totally could not handle all of this at that moment. Gulping, I handed the photos back, shaking my head. I mechanically answered any other questions the officer had, filed my report, filled out a restraining order, pressed charges, the whole shebang before he finally left me alone.

Moving back into the living room, I wrapped my arms around me protectively. I was suddenly very uncomfortable in my own house. I didn’t like that at all. Heading to the window, I pulled the blinds down and drew the curtains on every window in the house, even the little one in the bathroom that I really wish I knew how Carson got to! It’s high enough off the ground that you can’t stand there and look through it and it’s not even big enough for a person to crawl through. Another question to pop into my mind was how could he have gotten up to my bedroom window? That was definitely high enough off the ground you would need a ladder to get up to it…or…oh God…my climbing tree. When I was younger I discovered there was a branch that extended just enough for me to climb out my window and out onto this branch in order to shimmy down the tree. When I was dating my first boyfriend when I was 16 (who my parents couldn’t stand…mainly cuz he was 18, smoked, and drove a motorcycle…hey, every girl goes through their ‘bad is good’ period, right?) I use to sneak out and down that tree so I could go off to see him. That had to be how Carson got those pictures of me on the computer. What a sick, sad, perverted bastard. I hoped he’d rot in jail.

Quickly covering my window so not even light could get through, I turned go sit at the computer, praying that Angie would be online and I could talk to her for awhile just to try and calm my nerves. Sitting down at my desk, I wiggled the mouse and watched as my monitor buzzed to life again to show my desktop with a picture Angie took of me the day I graduated high school. I was dressed in my best pair of khaki slacks and a nice light blue shirt, sitting on the steps with my arms around a panting Howie. Gulping, I quickly brought up my media player. I needed my music to help me escape. Hitting play, I frowned in confusion as a Chicago song started playing. Glancing to my left, I saw a homemade case in writing that wasn’t my own.

“To Gwen, From Mikey.” It looked like he’d gone through my CD collection and had come up with a mixed CD for me, but it was all ‘love’ songs. 1) Beautiful—Christina Aguilera; 2) Start Of Something New—High School Musical; 3) Breaking Free—High School Musical; 4) What I’ve Been Looking For—High School Musical; 5) Inspiration—Chicago; 6) Hard Habit To Break—Chicago; 7) Can’t Fight This Feeling—Journey; 8) True—Ryan Cabrera; 9) Feels Like Home—Randy Newman and Bonnie Raitt. There were about five or six more but I didn’t finish looking. I got up from the computer, CD still playing, and went back to lie on my bed. Curling up with Ted, I pressed him close to my face and inhaled deeply. It’s said that everyone has their own distinct scent, and Mikey’s was all over him. Keeping him close to me, I slowly drifted back to sleep praying this bad dream would all be over soon and Mikey would be back soon.

 

* * *

 

Mikey stood in the living room of the lair looking around sadly. The whole ride back to New York was spent being lectured by Leo and threatened by Raph. Donatello hadn’t said much the whole way, aside from a few nonjudgmental questions and to check on his bullet wound. His worst fear of nothing changing just because he was gone was right. Nothing had changed. They still treated him as if he were a little kid who needed to be watched over every minute of the day and couldn’t take care of himself. And all but April and Don were convinced that he had been held captive at gun point and had been shot when trying to escape. When Mikey heard that theory, he couldn’t help but actually start laughing out loud. He’d always known Leo had an imagination, he just never wanted to use it, and now that he had, he’d managed to come up with that outrageous idea. Shaking his head sadly, he shuffled over to the couch and sat down. They hadn’t even let him go back to get his stuff. He wasn’t even able to tell Gwen goodbye. Of course, then again, he remembered the way she had reacted and knew if he’d gone back she probably would have kicked him out anyways.

He’d spent the night they returned to the lair, tossing and turning uncomfortably on his bed. Once his prize possession, his loft bed now seemed stiff and lumpy compared to Gwen’s couch and futon. He was also finding it hard to sleep without his music, or his beloved teddy bear. He wanted to beat his brothers and Casey up side the head with his nunchakus repeatedly for treating him like crap and then rushing out to “rescue” him again when he didn’t need it. They still hadn’t noticed how sullen and aggravated he was acting. Raphael was starting to look like a court jester compared to him. He would eat when dinner was ready, practice when it was time, meditate when Splinter told them to, and then go off to his room alone without a word. Though his two oldest brothers may have been blind to his sudden change in mood, Donatello and Splinter were much more perceptive of it.

“Master Splinter? May I speak with you for a minute?” Donnie asked quietly, peeking into their Sensei’s meditation room. Splinter was kneeling behind his table, as usual, with his eyes closed. A small smile itched at the corners of his mouth as he heard his ever peace keeping charge address him. When the turtles were younger, it was always Michelangelo and Donatello who would come to him with their problems or for protection from whatever night time creatures happened to be “hiding” in their rooms that night. He loved all his sons equally, as a good father should, but he had to admit that he still had a soft spot for his two younger sons. Opening his eyes, he nodded and held a hand out in motion for Donatello to come in and kneel before him. Going down on bending knees, Donnie placed his bo-staff next to him and looked up at the aging rat he’d only ever known as their father.

“What is bothering you, my son?”

“It’s Mikey, Sensei. He isn’t himself. I mean, he’s acting more like Raphael than Raph is! He doesn’t want to skateboard, he won’t watch TV or crack jokes. It’s like, he’s not Mikey anymore, like he’s been replaced.” Splinter nodded as Donatello spoke and sighed in thought. He’d also noticed the change in Michelangelo and had been attempting to channel into it.

“I have noticed it as well. Perhaps we should go and speak with Michelangelo ourselves.” Standing, he picked up his walking stick (which he’d proven many times he didn’t  _really_ need) and lead the way back out into the living room where Mikey was staring at the blank television screen. Glancing back at Donatello who shrugged and pointed towards him, Splinter turned his attention back to his disheartened son.

“Michelangelo. It brings joy to my heart to see the four of you together again. But something troubles you. Donatello has seen your change, as have I. Perhaps you should speak to us. It is not healthy for one to pen up their troubles within.” He said, placing a gentle, old hand on his shoulder. Lifting his eyes, Mikey glanced between the two and sighed heavily. He knew he couldn’t escape them both. Each on their own, possibly, but together it was hopeless.

“Why? It’s not gonna change anything anyways. I’m still gonna be ‘funny li’l Mikey who needs a babysitter twenty-four-seven to make sure he doesn’t get himself into too much trouble.’ That’s all I’ve ever been.”

“Mikey…if you told us what was wrong, we could try to change things. And we only look after you so much because we care about you. We don’t want to see anything happen to you.” Donnie answered his voice cool and collected. Standing up quickly, Michelangelo spun to face them. It was startling to see how dark his eyes had turned. Always known for his bright child-like blue eyes, Donatello was almost scared to see the deep pain and anger that was suddenly replacing everything he’d known and turning his brothers eyes a dark and stormy ocean blue.

“That’s bull and you know it, Don! I was trying to tell you guys what was wrong the whole way home but no one listened! No one ever listened! You guys all only heard what you wanted to hear! “Poor little Mikey! Lost out there all by himself! Held captive! Shot! We have to go rescue him!” I never wanted to be ‘rescued’! I was FINE! I’m NOT a little kid anymore, as you guys all so graciously pointed out to me the night I left. You wanted me to grow up, act more mature. Well here, is this what you wanted? I’m more grown up and mature now! And just a miserable as you guys. I was  _happy_ back there in Illinois! I wasn’t in any kind of danger that I couldn’t handle. And ya know what? This bullet wound? It wasn’t done by some scientist as I was trying to escape. It was done by some jackass who busted into the house and was trying to hurt Gwen. I got shot trying to protect her. Things were going great until you guys showed up with your stupid plan to ‘save’ me! You didn’t even let me go and get my fuckin’ stuff! I couldn’t even go tell Gwen what was going on! So thank you! Thank you very much, for rescuing me from the only girl who I ever actually fell in love with.” The anger emanating from his voice and words was enough to bring Leonardo and Raphael out of the dojo and stand silently in the doorway, listening in utter shock and disbelief. This couldn’t possibly be their same little brother who never once got mad about anything. Never had they heard him spout angry words like they just had.

Dumbfounded, Donatello and Splinter stood there staring at Michelangelo as he fought back the urge to scream. Fists clenched in tight balls at his side, he glared at them for a moment before turning to head off for his room. Taking a few steps, he paused and turned back around.

“Ya know what…on second thought. No…I do want to thank you guys…really. You  _did_ save me. You saved me from the only girl to ever stomp all over my heart right in front of me.” Glaring at Leo and Raph for a moment, he quickly spun back towards his door and sulked in, slamming hard as he did so. The remaining brothers all looked at each other and then at Splinter who looked to be just about as hurt as Mikey was by their words and actions.

“Master Splinter? Are you going to let him get away with speaking to you like that? It was totally disrespectful and completely uncalled for. He should be—“

“Silence your tongue, Leonardo.” Splinter snapped, cutting him off mid-sentence. The fire in the rats’ eyes was enough to make all three grown turtles take a few steps back and gather closer together. He had been left in the dark with the events that took place when he allowed his sons to go and retrieve their lost brother. Now, knowing the truth, he was suddenly filled with animosity towards them. They had betrayed his trust in their judgment. Stepping up to them, they each knew something was going to happen but none of them were prepared for the harsh raps they each received on the head.

“Ow!”

“Hey!”

“Ouch!”

“I am disappointed in each of you. You deceived me. For nearly 22 years now, I have been training you to use the right thinking and judgment. But perhaps my training has fallen on deaf ears, for the actions you have done were not done in the right judgment of things. Michelangelo left because of the way you had treated him. In the course of his absent, he had learned to be the grown up you three had wanted him to be. Then, you go and take him without warning, when he was clearly in no harm, and continue to treat him as a child. Would you care for me to treat you as I did when you were children again?” He questioned, glaring at each of them with his hands behind his back. Lowering their eyes each placed their hands in front of them.

“No, Sensei.” They each answered, sounding so much like they had when they were young.

“Each of you are to go to your rooms and meditate about what you have done.”

“Yes, Sensei.” Turning, the three brothers each started off for their own rooms. Raphael and Leonardo had just closed their doors when Donatello stopped and braved to ask his angered Sensei another question.

“M-Master Splinter? If Mikey hated the way we treated him, then why didn’t he ever stop acting the way he did? Why would he continue acting like a little kid, and always joke around and make things seem like nothing bothered him. I mean, he’s never been mad about anything in his life.”

Silently turning and heading back to his meditation room, Splinter paused for a moment and looked back over his shoulder.

“Sometimes those with the biggest smiles hide the most pain.”

 


	15. Feels Like Home

It had been the longest and most boring week of Gwen’s life. She still couldn’t believe a week had gone by with no word from Mikey. She’d never meant to hurt his feelings that bad. She’d only been so caught off guard by his honesty that she hadn’t known how else to react. That coupled with the scuffle with Carson and death of Howie had made it a little hard for her to comprehend what it was he was saying exactly. She realized then, only a week later that she shouldn’t have laughed at him and tried to tell him that he didn’t love her. Now, being forced to spend her days off alone and in total solitude, she wished she would have done things differently.

Sitting alone on the couch, clutching tightly to Ted, she sat staring blankly at her TV screen as “Waterboy” played through. It had always been her favorite Adam Sandler movie, and when Mikey had been watching it with her, it somehow became even funnier to her. Without him though, she couldn’t for the life of her remember how or why it was that funny to begin with. The movie was almost over when she heard a knock on her door. Knitting her eyebrows together, she looked down at Ted who was ‘looking’ back at her with his black button eyes, and stood up.

“W-Who is it?” She questioned cautiously. Not expecting anyone and not wanting to take anymore chances, she wasn’t about to just randomly open the door.

“Prescott Brothers Floral Delivery.” Came the reply. Curious, Gwen stepped up next to the door and opened it a little. A boy about sixteen or seventeen was standing there with a large baby blue box that had lavender ribbon tied around it. Holding the box up a little, he gave a sheepish smile.

“Delivery? For a Ms. Gwen Masterson? Sorry they took so long ma’am…we had to wait for our shipment of Sterling roses to come in. They took longer than we thought they would.” He apologized as Gwen opened the door more. Breath catching, she stared dumbly at the box of two dozen roses. They were the most beautiful things she’d ever seen.

“Um…t-thank you. Is…is there a card or something? Do you know who sent them?” She asked, reaching out for the box before digging into her pocket for a few dollars for him. Pulling up his clipboard, the delivery boy flipped through a few pages before stopping.

“Micheal…uhhh…I think his last name is like…Angelo. Something weird like that.” He answered. Gwen’s eyes went wide and she gave a wispy sort of laugh in disbelief. Mikey had sent her two dozen roses? This must have cost him a fortune! Tears springing from her eyes, she handed the delivery boy his tip and closed the door. Dumbfounded, she slowly moved to the kitchen and set them on the table. Mikey sent her flowers. Not just any flowers, her two favorites. He remembered. Biting her lip, she quickly filled the biggest vase she had with water and placed them in it. Instantly her kitchen was filled with the sweet scent of the bright pink roses. The two were such a calming contrast that it almost broke her heart to look at them.

“GWEN! YOU DID NOT TELL ME YOUR HOUSE HAD BEEN BROKEN INTO!!” A terrified voice exclaimed from behind her. Letting out a shrill yelp, Gwen spun around only to find Angela standing in the doorway looking indignant. Arms crossed over her chest, she marched up to her best friend and pulled her into a tight hug.

“Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you call me? I had to find out about it on MySpace ™ from some idiot who read about it in the newspaper and posted some stupid remark about it.” Angela said, pulling back to look at her best friend. Sniffling, Gwen shrugged and looked back at her table.

“I don’t know. I’m sorry Angie. I guess because I knew you’d make a bigger deal out of it than it really was.”

“It WAS a big deal! That jerkoff shot Howie! And he tried to shoot…someone sent you flowers? Who sent you flowers!? Girl what else are you keeping from me?!” Gwen couldn’t help but laugh. Leave it to Angie to just randomly change the subject. That was a mixed blessing for the girl. She tended to jump from subject to subject when she was overly excited. On the plus side it got them to stop talking about Carson and Howie, on the downside it got them onto the topic of Mikey. Sighing, Gwen walked back out to the living room and picked Ted back up.

“Remember that really great guy I had called to tell you about? The one who was just so sweet and gentle and caring? The one who had so much kid left in him that all his enthusiasm for life just sucked you right in and you started feeling like a kid again too?”

“You mean your Prince Charming? Yeah, I remember. He sent you the flowers?! Ooooh…I’m jealous! So where is he? Where you hiding him? What’s he doing? I wanna meet him.” Again Gwen laughed as she trailed her fingers down the love worn teddy bear.

“You seriously need to lay off the “Will and Grace”, Ang…you’re starting to sound just like Karen Walker. He’s not here. He um…he left. About a week ago actually. Oh Angie…you’re gonna think I’m crazy…he left because I laughed at him when he told me that he…that he loved me.” The silence was so thick between the two that Gwen swore she could have cut it with a knife. Glancing over her shoulder, she looked at her friend who was staring at her with her mouth and eyes gaping.

“Alright kid, start at the top. Tell me  _everything_ about this guy that would make you  _laugh_ when he says something like that. And I do mean  **_everything_ ** . Don’t leave out any little detail.”

For the next few hours, Gwen sat in the living room with Angela telling her everything from how she picked him up as a hitchhiker all the way down to him and Howie saving her life when Carson tried to shoot them. Through the whole explanation, Angie didn’t say a word; she just nodded and listened, processing everything that her best friend was saying. Gwen was amazed that she didn’t even say anything when she told her about how he was a mutated turtle. She thought for sure that Angie would have stopped her and tried to make a big deal about it. She didn’t though. Finally, when she had finished, Angela took a deep breath and nodded slowly.

“Uhhh-huh…So let me get this straight in my mind just so I know I wasn’t hearing things. You saw him hitchhiking along side the road, you picked him up and brought him home, found out he was giant, mutated turtle, and you somehow started falling for him? The more time you spent with him the harder you fell but yet when he told you he loved you…you laughed? There is something seriously wrong with you. Granted, I probably would have freaked out a bit more if suddenly I found myself falling for a giant talking tur—wait a second here.” Pausing, her eyes went wide and she pointed a finger at her best friend.

“There WAS a giant talking turtle in your bathroom!! He really  _was_ there, wasn’t he?!”

“Yeah…he was. But I couldn’t tell you because…I didn’t think you’d believe me. Or that you’d freak out and try to hurt him or something. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel like you’d lost your mind. But now that you know…”

“Ok, now that I know he really  _is_ real, I do find it kinda weird that you would be falling for a turtle so for the sake of what little sanity I have left, we’ll just pretend he’s human—“

“He is human, Angie. He’s more human than a lot of guys I know. He tried to explain that to me, but I…I wouldn’t listen. God, I’m such an idiot!” Gwen exclaimed, getting up from the couch and pacing the room, wringing her hands together as she continued to rant.

“I mean, yeah sure, so he doesn’t look like everyone else but, so what? Right? I’m not prejudice. And…after awhile, I stopped seeing him as a  _turtle_ …or the thought of him being a turtle didn’t weird me out as much anymore anyways. Here’s this great, wonderfully sweet and caring guy who poured his heart out to me and I laughed at him! What the hell is wrong with me? How long have I been wishing on falling stars that my Prince Charming would come along? Years! That’s how many! Ever since I was 11 years old. I just never specified I guess. So…so what if my Prince Charming is a turtle? And now I’ve lost him. I blew it, Ang…my wish finally came true and I blew it.” Her face falling, she slumped back down into her chair, and looked down at her hands.

Frowning, Angela sat there watching Gwen. She hated seeing her sad, especially over a guy. She wished there was something she could do to make her feel better. Even though she did find it strange that Gwen had fallen for a turtle, she knew just by the way she was acting, that she was heartbroken by the way she had treated him and by his absence. Standing up, Angie moved over to kneel in front of Gwen and took her by the hands. Looking up into her eyes, she gave a caring smile.

“We’ll find him, Gwen. Do you have any clue what-so-ever where he could have gone? Anything?”

Gwen bit her lip as she shook her head and thought. She really had no idea. She’d searched everywhere she could think of. She even went so far as to driving back up to The Hole to see if he’d somehow managed to get back up there. Scanning her memory as she mentally went back through the woods on her search, her eyes suddenly went wide. Of course! Why didn’t she remember this before!

“His brothers!”

“His whaters?”

“His brothers! When I was out searching the woods for him, I saw footprints…footprints just like his. There were eight of them and then two human shoes. His brothers must have found him and took him back to New York!” Her eyes brightened at the prospect of finding him again. As hers brightened, Angela’s darkened a little.

“He’s got brothers? You mean there are more of them? And I thought there were some weirdo’s up near my place. And in New York? That’d be like finding a needle in a haystack.”

“No it won’t! They live in the sewers in Manhattan.” The moment those words left her mouth, she could see Angela’s fear in her eyes. Angela was the type of girl who felt ‘a place for everything and everything in it’s place’ was more than just a saying, it was a way of life. Not that she was a frilly girly-girl or anything, in fact she was far from it, when it came to anything that might smell or feel funky though, nausea instantly washed over her. Gwen admitted the prospect of going down into the sewers—especially New York City sewers—was not her idea of a fun time, but if it meant finding Mikey and thanking him personally for the flowers, she was all for it.

Something clicked in Gwen just then, something that told her Mikey really had been her Prince Charming, turtle or not, she was supposed to be with him. She had heard once that if a person were lucky they’d have one shot in their lifetime to find true love and once they found it they had to fight to keep it. Well she was determined to fight. She had always been a fighter and she would fight to the death if it meant getting Mikey back. In her mind she was already making a list of things she had to gather together to take with her and the things she had to do before she could start out on her adventure. Smiling brightly, she stood up and pulled Angela into a tight hug.

“Come with me? You wouldn’t make me wander the streets and sewers of New York City alone would you? And hey, you could become a teacher up there. New York Schools are always looking for teachers.” She said, trying to make things sound better in order to convince her reluctant friend. The panicked look in Angela’s eyes told Gwen that she was being torn between her fear for her friend and the fear of what they could possibly encounter down below the streets.

Groaning, Angela made a face and pulled back to pace the living room herself. Her whole life was there in Illinois. Her school, her parents, her job…well…her job if she had had one just then. Scratching that objection off her list, she continued to think of what she would be losing if she went along. She loved Gwen more than anything and she’d hate to see her move clear across the country by herself. Plus, she knew with Gwen’s luck, she’d get lost and somehow manage to find herself sinking to the bottom of the East River. Maybe moving to New York City wouldn’t be too bad after all. Definitely a lot more single guys, that was for certain. And maybe, if Gwen could find it in her heart to fall in love with a turtle, maybe one of his brothers wouldn’t be so bad? Mentally kicking herself, Angie scolded herself for being so desperate. She’d just have to wait and weigh her options out once she got there.

“Alright…I’ll go.”

 

* * *

 

April O’Neil sighed as she looked around her apartment. Things just hadn’t been the same lately. Even after they’d picked Mikey up in Illinois, things hadn’t gone back to normal. She had tried to warn his brothers that just barging in and grabbing him wasn’t the way to do it, but they wouldn’t listen. She completely understood what Mikey meant when he said his brothers really only ever heard what they wanted to hear. She had tried to talk to her orange clad friend, but he never seemed to want to talk about anything. She loved Michelangelo like he were her own brother, and it hurt her to see him in so much pain. She had managed to hear from Donnie that one of the main things causing him so much pain was being heartbroken. _Poor Mikey_ , she thought, shaking her head as she got things together to take down to them. _All he wants is someone to love._

Stuffing a gallon of milk into a paper bag, April thought back to one Valentine’s Day when she had sent each of the guys little cards with a gift card to their favorite pizza place inside. She hadn’t signed her name however, instead wrote things like, “Your secret love” or “Forever yours anonymously” little things like that in there to spark their imaginations so that they could feel like someone out there really did love them. Leonardo recognized the writing right away though and merely gave her a thanking smile when he next saw her. Donatello hadn’t said much about his, she figured he had probably thought it was from Irma and so didn’t want to acknowledge the fact that he got one. The card she had sent to Raph she had found stuffed down in between seat cushions on the couch so she figured she had probably embarrassed him. Michelangelo’s card though, he had walked around with that card with the proudest smile she had ever seen spread across his face. He had spent the longest time trying to figure out who could have sent him that card. No one had the heart to tell him it was April and finally he announced that maybe not knowing was better than really knowing.

Giving a sad smile, she glanced at the picture of her, Casey, and their four friends taken one Christmas years ago when everyone was still happy. She missed their happy-go-lucky sides, especially Mikey’s. He had always been good for a laugh and was known for cheering people up when they needed. Now all he did was hide away in his room. She wished that she could find this Gwen person and brow-beat them until they came to their senses and realized how great a person he was and how badly they had hurt him. After putting the last few food items into a bag and grabbing the few gadgets she had managed to find for Donnie at a flea market, she started for the door. She was just about to open it when she heard voices come from the opposite side.

“Are you sure this is the right place?”

“Of course I’m sure! It was the only April O’Neil in the phone book.”

“What if she moved though? What if she got married? What if she got married  _and_ moved.”

“Angie! Knock it off. This has to be the right place. And what did I tell you about watching so much “Will and Grace” I swear…you are turning into all four characters. It’s creepy.” April stifled a small chuckle as she went to turn the knob. Opening the door, she looked out at the pair standing before looking like deer caught in headlights. Seeing two girls in their early twenties was the last thing she expected to find. Especially two who looked as lost as they did. Pressing one of her bags against the wall, she raised an eyebrow at them.

“Can I help you girls?” She asked, glancing between the two of them. Gwen gulped and glanced at Angie who nudged her forward with her elbow.

“Uh…are you Ms. O’Neil?” Gwen questioned timidly. She wasn’t sure what she expected to see when she came face to face with the woman who had befriended the turtles when they were younger. She knew that Mikey had always referred to her as a ‘babe’ and he had been right. She was rather pretty and it would have surprised Gwen in the least if she had been a TV news reporter or something important like that that would show her off to all of New York City.

“I’m April O’Neil, yes. What can I do for you?”

“Oh thank goodness. Ms. O’Neil, my name’s Guenevere Masterson. You probably don’t know me but, I’ve heard so much about you from Mikey and—“

“You know Michelangelo?”

“Y-yeah…see I’m from Illinois and he had been staying with me for awhile and about a month and a half ago he—“

“You’re Gwen!?” April questioned, her eyes wide in surprise. Caught off guard, Gwen took a step back and gulped. Nodding, she glanced back at Angela for support again before looking back at April.

“Um, yes, yes I am. I came here hoping you could help me out. I’m guessing since you do know who I am that you know what happened between me and Mikey and I was hoping that maybe you could help me out…”

“Why should I help you? You broke his heart! He has been brooding down in his room ever since he got back. If anything I should—“

“I know…I know I broke his heart, but that’s why I’m here.” Gwen could feel her heart breaking all over again as April reminded her about how badly she had hurt him. She had an idea how he must have felt and must have been acting, but she had no idea he had been that bad. She didn’t except April to help her, she only hoped that she would. Shoving her hands back into her jeans pockets, she lowered her eyes as she felt the other woman’s stare burn into her.

“She came to try and apologize to him. She wants to make up. She wasn’t acting like herself when he came clean about his feelings. So, we were hoping that you could tell us how we could reach them. Ya know…phone would be preferred. Ouch!” Angela shot Gwen a look as she was jabbed in the ribs with an elbow.

“Or how we could go about finding them in the sewers…would work…too.” Looking the pair over with a careful eye, April silently thought things over. She saw the look of pain on Gwen’s face though she wasn’t sure just how sincere it was. When she finally lifted her eyes though and saw the tears and look of lost in them, April knew that she wasn’t trying to trick them. Lowering her guard, she smiled and stepped out into the hallway.

“I can do one better. I’m heading there right now. I’ll show you the easiest way.”

 

* * *

 

The lair was strangely quiet as Mikey wandered from the kitchen and into the living room. His brothers were all off doing their own things, leaving him to sit in front of the television and veg for a little while in peace. It had been a long time since he’d just sat down to watch TV, and in a strange way, he missed it. But not nearly as much as he missed being able to watch TV with Gwen.

“Knock it off, Mike…she’s outta your life so just get used to it.” He muttered to himself softly, popping the top on his soda and turning on their television. He’d only been sitting there a few minutes when he heard Donatello’s alarm system start blasting through the lair in warning that someone was approaching. Clamping his hands over his ears, he glared off towards his brothers’ room.

“Shut that thing off, Donnie!” He yelled, though it was lost in all the beeps and squeals of the alarm. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw the door open and close and April come down the stairs. He saw her mouth moving but he couldn’t for the life of him hear a word she was saying. Setting her bags down, she covered her ears and pointed to the stairs. Knitting his eye ridges together, he looked at their friend in confusion. Since he couldn’t hear what she was saying, he just continued to stare at her until another person appeared at the top of the stairs.

Looking up, his heart stopped and though the alarm was still blasting, he heard nothing at all. Gwen was there, standing on the stairs. Not only was she there, she was holding a pizza box. Feeling his heart finally start again, and start racing a mile a minute at that, he looked down at his hands and realized he had begun trembling. Slowly standing, he started towards her, almost afraid that he was dreaming and she really wasn’t there. As they got closer to each other, he knew he wasn’t dreaming. He could smell the pizza for one thing, and he could feel the stabbing pain in his chest that he’d never felt in dreams. As they finally met up in the middle of the room, Donatello managed to silence his renegade alarm.

“Somebody order a pizza? Thick crust, with double cheese, ham, pepperoni…everything else they’ve got.” She said, a soft sad smile on her face before it brightened a little. “Oh, but no anchovies.”

Mikey gave a choked up laugh as he took the box from her and set it on the table. Pulling her into his arms, he hugged her so tightly that she almost couldn’t breath. Tears blinded them both as they held each other. Neither of them aware of the fact they were being watched by April and the others. Pulling back, Mikey looked down into her eyes and smiled before leaning down and doing the one thing he’d wanted to do for so long.

As the pair embraced in their first kiss, Angela stood at the top of the stairs, smiling and sighing with her arms crossed over her chest. She had to admit, that was truly the sweetest and most romantic thing she’d ever seen. She could only hope that someday she could find someone to make her feel as special and loved as those two did. So caught up in watching her best friend, she didn’t notice when a shadow slipped up behind her and knocked her feet out from under her.

“What the?!” Raph glared down at her as he pinned her to the ground.

“Who are you? How’d you find us? Second thought…I’ve never been one for questions first…”

“I’m Gwen’s friend! Let go of me you big oaf!” Raphael continued to stare at her for a moment before he finally pulled back and let her stand. As he did though, he almost wished he could have knocked her out just to keep from having her lay into him about the way he snuck up on her and nearly killed her.

Totally unaware of the bickering pair on the stairs, Gwen pulled away from the kiss slowly and smiled at Mikey. So it was true. Her Prince Charming really had been a turtle. And now that she had him back, she was going to make sure that nothing ever came between them ever again.

The End?


	16. Epilogue

Epilogue

Totally unaware of the bickering pair on the stairs, Gwen pulled away from the kiss slowly and smiled at Mikey. So it was true. Her Prince Charming really had been a turtle. And now that she had him back, she was going to make sure that nothing ever came between them ever again. Standing there in the living room, staring into each others eyes, neither one were aware of the small crowd they suddenly had gathered around them.

"Do you mind explaining who this is, Michelangelo?" Leo questioned, his arms folded over his plastron with a single eye ridge raised. He gave Gwen the once over quickly before glancing up the stairs where Angela was still arguing with Raph. Turning his head, Mikey smiled for the first real time since he got home.

"This, is Gwen Masterson. She's the one who was holding me hostage." He answered his voice thick and dripping with sarcasm. He still hadn't fully forgiven his brothers for snatching him that night almost two months ago, but now that Gwen was there, standing safe and sound in his arms, his vendetta against them was quickly diminishing. Gwen looked at Michelangelo in confusion before glancing back at Leo.

"Held him hostage? I did not! He could have left any time he so pleased! You have a lot of nerve accusing me of holding anything hostage, Mr. Blue. Wait…blue…" She quickly glanced back at Mikey and then at Leo. "Ooooh…you're Leonardo. Well that explains it all then. Mikey told me a lot about you 'O Fearless One'." Gwen said, a silly sarcastic smirk playing on her lips. Leo opened his mouth to question her meaning but quickly shut it.

"So she's the one you sent flowers to?" A voice asked from behind them. Turning, the pair smiled at Donatello who was looking at them through what Raph had dubbed his "bug eye" goggles. Tightening his hold on Gwen's waist, Mikey blushed slightly as he nodded.

"Yeah…sorry about that, by the way Donnie…I didn't mean to spend that much of your money. I'll pay you back. I'll buy pizzas for the next two months." Donatello gave a small chuckle as he shook his head and removed his goggles. Stepping up to the two of them, he placed a hand on Michelangelo's shoulder.

"While I would love to get that money back, don't worry about it. Having you back is way more important than money. And now after seeing your reasoning for buying that many flowers, I can see why you did it." Smiling, he looked back at Gwen. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you Gwen. I'm Donatello…but you can call me Donnie."

Gwen smiled as she shook Donatello's hand. So far every description Michelangelo had given her about his brothers had been dead on. Donatello really had been the quiet and pacifist one; Leonardo the up-tight would-be-know-it-all; and Raph…well she hadn't actually met him yet. Turning, she looked around until she spotted Angela and Raphael really getting into it on the stairs.

"Look, I didn't hurt ya or nothin' now did I? So jist drop it already, would ya?"

"It's the PRINCIPAL of it all! You COULD HAVE hurt me! Did you ever think of that? Huh? What if I had a heart condition? What if I had a bad back? Or bad knees? Huh? Huh? Didn't think of that now did you?!"

"Look lady, if ya want me ta hurt ya, I'll hurt ya!"

"I'd like to see you try! I have a brother who is in the military and taught me self-defense before he left." Raphael's eyes narrowed into thin slits as his fists clenched around the hilts of his Sais. Ignoring his look of death, Angela continued her rant.

"And who are you to take down innocent woman without any prior knowledge about them? Hm? What made you think I was out to get you? Ever heard of innocent until proven guilty? You certainly must think pretty highly of yourself to take down a girl when she's just standing there defenseless!"

"Where the hell is your 'off' switch?!" Raphael growled deep in the back of his throat. Stifling a laugh, Gwen pulled out of Michelangelo's grasp and moved for the stairs. She wasn't exactly sure how to get Angie to stop her rampant lecture, but she had the feeling if she did it just right she could get her to switch subjects. Giving a polite smile to Raph, she extended her hand to him.

"You must be Raphael. Mikey's told me so much about you. I'm Gwen and this walking mouth here is my best friend Angela." Eye still narrowed, Raph gave her the once over before nodding back to the still ranting woman, completely ignoring Gwen's hand.

"How do ya shut her up?"

"I am not a walking mouth. I am not some annoying 'Newsie' from the turn of the century. Gwen he tried to kill me!" Angela cried her eyes wide and her arms crossed over her chest. Raising an eyebrow at her, Gwen shrugged.

"Somehow, Angie…I think if Raph had tried to kill you, he would have actually done it. Now, you aren't hurt or anything so stop complaining and act like a civil person. You are going to be stuck down here so you might as well get used to him." Gwen answered. She chuckled to herself when she caught at a glance the way Raphael was already looking her friend over.

"What do you mean I'm going to be stuck down here? Gwen you aren't seriously suggesting that we move into the sewers, are you? Do you know what kind of things live down here!?" Lips pressed together, Gwen glanced back at the turtles, all of whom were looking at Angela with an eye ridge raised. Nodding, she turned back to her best friend.

"Yes, I do. And if they can live down here their whole lives, then I'm willing to give it a try. Besides," She smiled as she bounded down the stairs and back into Michelangelo's arms. Resting her cheek against his plastron, she smiled back up at Angela. "We don't have a place to live yet anyways. And who better to live with than my Ninja Turtle and his brothers?"

A wide smile spread its way across Michelangelo's face as he hugged Gwen tightly to him again. She felt so good in his arms that he never wanted to let go. Kissing her head gently, he looked back up at his brothers who were watching him intently. Part of him wanted to stick his tongue out at them and taunt them for being wrong about Gwen and his "captivity" in Illinois. The other part though, wanted them all to go back to their own business so he could curl up with Gwen and keep her all to himself.

Leonardo finally sighed and dropped his arms down to his side. Stepping forward, he gave the pair a small smile. He was glad he had been wrong about what went on in Illinois. Knowing the truth was ten times better than what he imagined. Gwen seemed to genuinely care about his little brother, and after seeing the way Michelangelo's face lit up and his mood instantly improved when he saw her, Leo knew he felt the same way.

"I'd like to apologize for kidnapping Mikey back from you, Gwen. We should have learned all the facts first before jumping to a conclusion. You and your friend are welcome to share our home for as long as you want or need." Michelangelo's jaw nearly hit the floor when he heard his older brother say that. He was not only surprised that Leo would open their home up to two strangers, no questions asked, but also that he apologized and admitted he was wrong! Blinking a few times, Michelangelo finally smiled and looked at his other brothers. Things had changed after all.

"I have a question though." Donatello said, stepping forward, his eye ridges knitted together in thought. "That house we picked him up at in Illinois. That was your house, right? What happened to it if you're moving down here?"

"Oh…um…well, it had too many bad memories floating around in it. Plus even before my parents died developers had been knocking on our door wanting us to sell to them so they could tear it down and put up a new subdivision or something silly like that. So, I went to track one of them down to see if they were still interested in it, and they were. I sold them basically everything. Except for the stuff that was Mikey's he'd left there, and a few things of mine that I couldn't part with. It's all up in my truck. The rest is probably being looted and burned before getting demolished." She answered, shrugging as she glanced around at everyone. True, it hurt having to leave all her childhood memories behind, but it didn't hurt nearly as bad as it had staying there without Mikey.

Still smiling, Michelangelo leaned down to kiss her again before pulling back quickly. His heart bounced and jumped with excitement. He'd finally get to hold her all night, every night. He was finally able to kiss her any time he wanted to. Just the thought of spending every day and night with her was enough to make him giddy. Finally glancing at the pizza box though, he felt his stomach roar to life also. Blushing a little, he reached over and picked the box up.

"Alright, enough of this mushy stuff! I'm starving!"

 

 


End file.
